Artist and Filmmaker based in Manchester.
Current exhibition: Is there anybody there? Solo Exhibition at HOME, Manchester - Preview 17th February at 18:00 Open 18th February - 4th June 2023
Screening of steinrunnin (petrified) at Nordic House, Reykjavik, Iceland February 24th 2023 - more news coming soon
The Book of Lies, at National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik 7th September 2019 - 12th January 2019
Commission by Einkofi Productions and Curated Place
Co-commission for ICA Art and Screen Network and Grundy Art Gallery
An inquisitive voice from the far future, or ‘visitor from another place’, interrogates the traditions and artefacts of the Blackpool Illuminations, the annual light festival first established in 1879. The disembodied voice seeks to understand, but often confuses, Northern English vernacular and traditions against the current shifting political dialogue surrounding Britain’s future; misunderstanding Blackpool’s unique fantastical imagery as totemic remnants of a former era. Daniels presents his own contemporary 16mm and super-8 film observations as a found archive, and a script littered with word-play related to the local landscape and other seaside end-of-the-pier resorts.
Exhibitions of Northern Lights to date Grundy Art Gallery (28/9/18 - 15/12/18) Rome Media Art Festival - MAXXI, Rome (17-19/5/2018)
Screenings of Northern Lights to date London Short Film Festival (BAFTA Accredited - Jan 2019) Shortlisted for Best British Short Aesthetica Short Film Festival (BAFTA Accredited - Nov 2018) Istanbul Experimental Film Festival (Nov 2018) Winnipeg Underground Film Festival (June 2018) Braziers Park - Mini Indi Fest (Aug 2018) The Holden Gallery: Interruptions (Jan 2019) HOME: Spit That Out II (Jan 2019) Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, (May 2019) Fracto Film Encounter, Berlin (May 2019) Turku Video Art Festival, Finland (May 2019)
Reviews of Northern Lights:
Art Monthly by Tom Emery - December 2018
Corridor 8 by Natalie Bradbury - November 2018
A short instructional video containing some easy steps for how to rightly read an area. By following this process carefully, you will be enabled with a Valuable Dataset which will allow you to clearly define any locality towards redeveloping a brand new sense of place. Invest this time and we’ll push the boundaries, survey the contents and help write a policy that works for you…
Chris Paul Daniels and Sam Meech employ absurdist methodologies to explore environments, architecture and communities within one square mile of Media City UK – Northern England's broadcasting beacon from which narratives are edited and distributed. The film celebrates the area whilst critiquing the notion of culturally surveilling, and drawing conclusions from, an arbitrary space.
Winner of the Northern Artist Film Award Co-commissioned by Salford Art Gallery and Museum and Quays Culture
Exhibitions and Screenings: Lightwaves Festival, Media City UK, December 2016 Politics of Paradise, Paradise Works, 2017 Polyrthymia, Castlefield New Art Spaces, 2017 TBCTV, Somerset House, 2018 University of Salford Art Collection, 2018/19 Moving Images – Static Spaces: Architectures, Art, Media, Film, Digital Art and Design – Altinbaş University, Istanbul, 2017 Whitechapel Art Gallery, London 2017 Channels Video Art Festival, Melbourne 2017 Athens Digital Art Fair, 2017 Flatpack Film Festival, (screened in competition, and also before London Overground feature) Birmingham, 2017 HOME, (Screened as a short film during the entire release of ‘Prevenge’ dir. Alice Lowe in the cinema programme), 2017 Rogue Cinema, Rogue Artists Studios, 2017 Synthetic Ecology (Brighton), 2017 Airspace Gallery (Stoke on Trent), 2017 Bideodroma Festival, Spain, 2017 Veinti4/Siete Galería, Columbia, 2017 CFCCA, Manchester, 2017 As Placemaking - with British Council Film at This Way Up Conference, 2017 Braziers Mini Indi Fest 2019 Coventry Biennial (TBC)
Winner of the Deutsche Bank Award for Art at the Royal College of Art 2010, Unravel is an epic project that will create a hand painted film that correlelates in length with the 874 miles between John O'Groats and Land's End - taking each metre between these two edges of mainland Britain as a ratio to equal one frame of 16mm film. In collaboration with over thirty film festivals, educational institutions and community spaces across England, Scotland and Wales we operating a touring workshop that aims to amass an epic sixteen hour film that will be created and manipulated by hand, by a diverse demographic of the people of Britain.
Free of charge and open to all, we involve as many members of local communities as possible - from young children and families to experienced film veterans. Unravel aims to turn the viewer into the maker of the work in a literal 'hands-on' way. We hope that these events will be as entertaining, informative and inspiring introduction to film making, providing an informal setting for people to interact with each other and our hosting venues a unique event in their programmes.
Formed by Maria Anastassiou and Chris Paul Daniels whilst studying at the Royal College of Art, Unravel is also comprised of OKO Lab of Leeds (Mark Pickles and Jo Byrne) and, Manchester based, Kelvin Brown.
Full Schedule to date: 2010... 19th September - Berwick Upon Tweed, The Maltings. (Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival) 23rd September - London, Londonnewcastle Gallery, (Neville Brody's Anti-Design Festival).
2nd and 3rd October - Manchester, Noise Lab, (Abandon Normal Devices) 17th October - London, Dalston Eastern Curve Garden 22nd and 23rd October - London, Southbank, (The Big Draw Festival) 24th October - Bexhill, De la warr Pavilion 30th October - Crook, Durham, (Kids for Kids Festival) 31st October - Glasgow, Centre for Contemporary Arts, (Document-8 Festival)
1st November - Edinburgh, Filmhouse cinema, (Africa in Motion Festival) 4th November - Inverness, the Eden Court, (Inverness Film Festival) 5th November - Sheffield, Town Hall, (Sheffield Doc Fest) 6th November - London, BFI Southbank,. 7th November - Falmouth, Falmouth Art Gallery, (Cornwall Film Festival) 9th and 10th November - London, Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre 12th November - Huddersfield, Verve Bar 13th November - Bradford, National Media Museum, (Bradford Animation Festival) 14th November - Leeds, Gallery 42, (Leeds International Film festival), 20th November - Bristol, Picture This, (Encounters International Film Festival) 21st November - London, Chisenhale Gallery
1st December - London, Royal College of Art 2nd December - London, no.w.here 3rd December - London, Deutsche Bank Head Quarters 4th December - Brighton - (CINE CITY Brighton Film Festival) 6th December - London, Camberwell College of Arts. 15th December - Huddersfield, University of Huddersfield.
2011... 8th January - Birmingham, IKON Gallery (in tandem with Len Lye Retrospective) 15th January - Hull, Museum of Club Culture 16th January - London, Corsica Studios (with Video is the only Constant) 18th January - Cambrigdeshire, Pendragon Primary School, 19th January - London, Royal College of Art (Deutsche Bank Award 2011 Launch)
10th February - Leeds,The Dark Arches, (with Cinema Corporel) 16th February - Nuneaton, King Edward VI College 19th February - Driffield, Wolds Village 23rd to 25th February - London, Swiss Cottage Library 26th February - Manchester, Whitworth Art Gallery
10th to 24th March - London, Camden Town, Three Week Temporary Pop Up Shop, 157 Robert Stree (with screening events on 10th, 19th and 24th and workshop at Samuel Lithgow Youth Centre) 21st March - Bournemouth, University of Bournemouth, National Centre for Computer Animation. 25th March - Brighton, Brighton University, School of Performance and Visual Art 26th and 27th March - Birmingham, MAC space, (Flatpack Festival)
1st April - London, SHUNT. 21st April - Armley, Armely Mills Industrial Museum, (with Minicine) 23rd April - Rotherham, Old Market Gallery 30th April and 1st May - Salford, Hot Bed Press, (Sights From the Other City)
5th May - London, Wieden + Kennedy 6th to 8th May - London, Studio at the Elephant, Elephant and Castle, 15th May, Basement Arts Projects, Beeston, Leeds 22nd May - Liverpool, FACT. . 28th May, Saltaire Arts Trail, West Yorkshire.
9th June, Zion Arts Centre, Hulme, Manchester 19th June, Edward Dunn Memorial Hall, Maltby, South Yorkshire. 25th June, Newsham Park Arts Festival (with FACT), Liverpool
4th July, London School Contemporary Dance, Deutsche Bank Awards 2011 Prizegiving. 8th July, Tate Britain 14th July Piccadilly Community Centre 23rd and 24th July, Manchester Mela 30th July, QUAD, Derby 13th August, Bar Lane Studios, York
23rd - 25th September, Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival 2011 5th November, Peninsula Arts, Plymouth 12th November, National Media Museum (Bradford Animation Festival 2011)
2012... 7th January 2012, IKON Gallery, Birmingham 18th February, Firstsite, Colchester
Work in progress screenings: 30th July, Encounters, Bristol Harbour Festival 23rd - 25th September Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival 17th - 23rd September, Document-9 Festival, Glasgow 8th - 12th November, Bradford Animation Festival, National Media Museum 19th - 20th November, Chisenhale Gallery, London 7th - 8th January 2012, IKON Gallery, Birmingham 18th February, Firstsite, Colchester
Talks: 25th September, Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival 2011 5th November, Peninsula Arts, Plymouth 12th November, National Media Museum (Bradford Animation Festival 2011) 22nd February, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds 8th May, FACT, Liverpool
View Unravel workshops to date feb 2012 in a larger map
More details here: unravelfilm.blogspot.com
Unravel - The longest hand painted film in Britain facebook group
YOU ARE A POWERHOUSE!
Originally commissioned by HOME, Manchester’s new multi-million pound arts space, as part of the exhibition ‘SAFE’ based on the 1995 film of the same name by Todd Haynes.
A bombardment of cultural references, fictional corporate case studies, and empty rhetorical word play collide – aligning commercial self help theory and the emphasis on the individual to independently solve complex situations with the current political lexicon. Through the advertised use of a live hotline, which in reality calls the arts centre’s own Box Office telephone number, Daniels explores broader institutional critiques and the pressured expectations of the arts centre to fully engage communities and deliver transformative experiences within an austerity context.
This short film has also been played at the following: ICA London (November 2015) HOME Manchester (November - Jan 2016) IFVA at Hong Kong Arts Centre (March 2016) Winnipeg Underground Film Festival (June 2016) Bedlam Fringe - Edinburgh Fringe Festival (August 2016) Arts and Literature Lab, Wisconsin (August 2016) The Tetley at Leeds International Film Festival (November 2016) Sea Change Festival, Totnes, with Video Social Club (August 2016) Plymouth Art Weekender, with Video Social Club (September 2016), Visions in the Nunnery Gallery at Bow Arts part 3 (December 2016)
Written, Filmed and Edited by Chris Paul Daniels. Music by Graham Massey. Sound Mastered by Kelvin Brown. Huge thanks to Carol, George, Annie, Adam and Karen for sharing their stories. Casting and Wardrobe by Jemma Dalton, Morag Rose, Anna Budrys and Lucy Ridges. Special thanks to Bysshe Harkavy, Bren O’ Callaghan and Tom Summers. Commissioned by HOME in support of the exhibition SAFE Curated by Sarah Perks and Louise O’Hare (14th November 2015 - 3rd January 2016). homemcr.org/exhibition/safe/
SAFE at HOME - An Audio Guide
An interactive exhibition audio guide that quickly expands into the format of a self-help product - proclaiming to transform the listener through ‘regenerative thinking’ and ‘cultural redevelopment’.
Capitalising on the authority of the voice of the narrator - the show’s co-curator and Artistic Director of Visual Art at HOME, Sarah Perks, the work quickly abandons the expectations of an explanatory resource or contextual aid and instead leads the visitor on a tangential, emotionally manipulated, internalised journey.
Using the emotive affirmations and mechanisms of new age thinking, self-help gurus and audio relaxation exercises, the guide makes more references to the physical space of the gallery and the installations of the floorboards and light fittings than the surrounding art works. Absurd visualisations where alien objects and situations are interpreted, frequently interject and interrupt the journey.
Word play freely associated with funding bodies, corporate strategy, political rhetoric, and Manchester’s cultural heritage (not least in the unique original score composed by Graham Massey) combine to satirise the oblique referencing and self fulfilling linguistics within the self help industry that anticipates enquiry, power play and commerce.
Taking the looming presence of the fictional New Age retreat of ‘The Wrenwood Centre’ in Haynes’ film as a starting point, where Carol White desperately invests in the hope of changing her situation; SAFE at HOME - An Audio Guide explores broader institutional critiques on the pressured expectations of the new arts centre to fully engage communities and deliver transformative experiences within an austerity context.
The work was housed in its own installation compiled of SAFE at HOME Jehovah’s Witness style ‘literature cart’ - further addressing contemporary methods of the spread of ideologies. 10 old-fashioned looking electronic museum audio guides and digital audio files on a hard-drive.
Written by Chris Paul Daniels. Music by Graham Massey. Narrated by Sarah Perks. Produced by Bren O’ Callaghan. Commissioned by HOME in support of the exhibition SAFE Curated by Sarah Perks and Louise O’Hare (14th November 2015 - 3rd January 2016). homemcr.org/exhibition/safe/
Article by Amelia Crouch for The Double Negativehttp://www.thedoublenegative.co.uk/2016/01/reflexive-modernity-the-work-of-chris-paul-daniels/
Reviews
Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art presents: A Tiger’s Skin
‘You can depict a tiger’s skin but not his bones’ is one of the last lines in ‘Chung Kuo, Cina’ the 1972 documentary by Michelangelo Antonioni, both commissioned and banned by Chairman Mao. By reframing the ideas from Antonioni’s film with contemporary images, Chris Paul Daniels has created a work that examines the rapidly changing way China is viewed through western eyes, and in doing so, questions assumed notions of ‘truth’ and ‘understanding’ within documentary film-making.
Whilst visiting China, Daniels’ documentations were framed by the1972 film, which served as a literal guide during a four week journey around multiple cities. Based on the themes of Antonioni’s and Andrea Barbato’s narration, Chris Paul Daniels has constructed an observational update of some of the same architectural subjects and specific geographical locations; revealing not just the enormous shifts that have taken place within Chinese society, but importantly, the dramatic changes in the Western perception of China.
Through contrasting the original English translation of the Italian commentary's 1970’s Euro-centric worldview with contemporary visual observations, the many elements of China’s industrial, financial and cultural expansion and perpetual growth are revealed and re-contextualised.
Simultaneously, the piece is narrated by a female Chinese speaker who reads a poorly translated simplified script, created through the use of smartphone application software commonly used by tourists and expatriates. In doing so, Daniels deconstructs the perceived trust of a film that utilises documentation and depiction of ‘otherness’ and examines how this literally translates in a digital age far from the inaccessible glimpses Antonioni captured on film in 1972.
In replacing one perception of China with another, while maintaining the same format with which these differing perceptions are described, the work acts as a deconstruction of language and filmic image and the relationship between the two. The subtitles switch between literal descriptions, oblique connections and wilful disconnection with the content of each image sequence, dominating the screen.
By making this relationship problematic, questions are asked about perceived notions of authenticity within documentary film making. The assumed truth presented is shown to be merely one truth, that of the film maker, rather than that of the subject.
‘A Tiger’s Skin’ questions the authenticity of the documentary format and addresses the anxiety of wider truth within film in representing reality. By observing the changes in time and space by revisiting the same locations forty years on from their original documentation, contradictions, misunderstandings and assumptions inherent to authoring filmic reality around a preconceived narrative are exposed.
Daniels deliberately intercuts paradoxical visual observations that contrast and, at times, contradict the original documentaries narrative. In doing so he is questioning the authority of documentary film’s assumed reliability and his own inexperience of China’s complex history, offering a critical perspective on both Antonioni’s as well as his own role as a filmmaker seeking to portray lives in cultures other than their own.
Daniels’ journey around Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing and Chengdu was part of the Transnational Dialogues Chinese Caravan 2014 and was funded by Arts Council England and the British Council’s Artist’s International Development Fund.
Premier/Divisions is an artist film that blurs the line between documentary and experimental observational studies, in an attempt by the maker, as an outsider, to understand the complexities and tensions surrounding perceived and real notions of division in Kenyan society in the run up to the 2013 presidential elections.
The footage was documented at a time when tensions were particularly at the forefront of Kenya’s collective consciousness due to the occurrences of the 2007/08 election and the so called ‘post-election violence’ wherein tribal, class and political conflicts resulted in the murders of over 1,200 people.
Through a series of interviews with Nairobi residents, including artists, film makers, journalists, and musicians, director Chris Paul Daniels mixes oral anecdotal perspectives on contemporary Kenyan life within the context of tensions highlighted by the election, which was controversially won by President Uhuru Kenyatta on 4 March 2013.
The film aims to present a personalised portrait of Nairobi with all its vibrancy, complexities and contradictions and reflect on universal societal habits to seek communal identities, ideologies and alliances.
Screenings to date include Cornerhouse Manchester, Locomotion Artists Moving Image Festival, Shady Dealings with Language (TOAST), Art Licks Weekend London, Nai Ni Who? Nairobi and Kuona Trust Arts Centre, Nairobi. Citations of the film can be found on the New York Times
In March I resided in Wuhan, China on a collaborative project between HOME (Mcr), Brighter Sound (Mcr), K11 (China) and Vox (K11) funded by the British Council and Manchester City Council.
“EIGHT, China’s lucky number, will see eight musicians and artists – four from Manchester (Chris Paul Daniels, Denis Jones, Kim May and Josephine Oniyama – who will feature in our Music & Film project later this year), and four from Wuhan (He Chengyun, Zhou Gang, Fan Pei Pei and Victor Wang) – collaborate over eight days to create a new and exciting interdisciplinary piece of work, combining music, visual art and film (until Thu 26 Mar).”
In You Are Here - Chris Paul Daniels creates rapid portraits and glimpses of lives from residents and workers of the Digbeth and Bordersley areas. Taking Birmingham New Street Station as the literal starting point for an understanding of the city, each of the portraits is specific in length to a ratio that has dictated its duration.
Each frame, at a rate of 24 frames per second, represents 0.5 metres in the distance from New Street Station to the location of the interview. In choosing to impose a rigid structure on each portrait’s length - Daniels is acknowledging the limits on his attempts to understand a place, which are informed by each of the brief encounters in a city in which he does not dwell. A series of interviews took place and participants were asked to discuss their own perspectives on their immediate environment and their notions of community within it. The footage collated jumps between different formats - Black and white 8mm film, Colour 16mm film and HD video to highlight the dramatic variations on how place can be represented. While the score by renowned electronic musician, Graham Massey (808 State, Massonix, Biting Tongues) builds on the theme of dis-location.
You are Here (43”27) 01 Ian Sergeant (16mm, 8mm film) Location: A3 Project space, B10 0SA 02 Kieran McInerney (16mm, 8mm film) Location: The Old Crown, B12 0SD. 03 Pamela Pinski (HD Video) Location: The Old Crown, B12 0SD. 04 Sean Marsay (8mm film, HD Video, participatory stop frame animation) Location: St Basil’s , B9 4AX 05 Tamzin Taylor-Rosser (8mm film, HD Video, participatory stop frame animation) Location: St Basil’s , B9 4AX 06 Hajra Ahmed ((8mm film, HD Video, participatory stop frame animation) Location: St Basil’s , B9 4AX 07 Spike Orion (8mm film, HD Video, participatory stop frame animation) Location: St Basil’s , B9 4AX 08 Shemilee Gordon (8mm film, HD Video, participatory stop frame animation) Location: St Basil’s , B9 4AX 09 Camelia Perrone (HD Video) Location: Phoenix Hall , B9 4QA 10 Nahid Mortuza (16mm, 8mm film) Location: Phoenix Hall , B9 4QA 11 Candice Smith (8mm film) Location: Phoenix Hall , B9 4QA 12 Shabnam Mughal (8mm film) Location: Phoenix Hall , B9 4QA 13 Trevor Pitt (8mm film) Location: A3 Project space, B10 0SA 14 Cathy Wade (8mm film) Location: A3 Project space, B10 0SA
Credits: Direction, Cinematography and Editing - Chris Paul Daniels Producer/Curator - Trevor Pitt Music - Graham Massey Sound Mastering - Kelvin Brown Installation/Technical - Oliver Jones, Kelvin Brown, Chris Paul Daniels, Trevor Pitt Participatory Stop motion animation by Tamzin Taylor Rosser, Sean Marsay, Hajra Ahmed, Spike Orion and Shemilee Gordon at St Basil’s, October 2014. Commissioned by A3 Project Space.
Funded by Birmingham City Council as part of Culture on Your Doorstep Special Thanks: Super 8 telecine courtesy of North West Film Archive at Manchester Metropolitan University La Tour, Birmingham Radisson Blu, Birmingham The Old Crown Phoenix Hall Community Centre St Basil’s Flatpack Film Festival Commissioned by A3 Project Space and funded by Birmingham City Council's Culture as part of Culture on Your Doorstep. Supported by Arts Council England.
I was commissioned with Kelvin Brown and Sam Meech to create a bespoke audio visual installation of their music video archive in tandem with their major exhibition and celebration of forty years of existence. The resulting forty five minute, multi-screen edit was widely praised in the press including this article by Creative Review
The work is soon to be released as a downloadable app.
Documentation on Sam Meech's flikr account is available here
On April 3rd and 5th I collaborated with new international music collective
Oerknal! on a rendition of John Zorn’s Chimeras. The results can be seen below:
I was awarded a fully funded residency at The NewBridge Project in Newcastle thanks to the Connect/Exchange Programme initiated by Northern Film and Media which was a fantastic experience where I was able to engage with the many inspiring and informed artists based there. There is a full blog post available here that details my time. Viewable clips from the work I produced there will be available soon.
Film Material Soup are an informal research collective of Artists working with experimental film, photography, light and video. Recent events include gallery takeovers during shows at The Royal Standard in Liverpool and Rogue Artist's Studios Project Space in Manchester.
Members include Dave Griffiths, Joe Duffy, Jenny Baines, Joanna Byrne, Sam Meech and Mary Stark.
I was part of the extremely minimal film crew (and therefore the cast)of Jamie Shovlin's 'meta-mentary' Rough Cut which was a co-commision between Cornerhouse Artist Film and Toronto International Film Festival. Much of my footage was used in the theatrically released film and images used for publicity including the poster image for the film. More on Rough Cut here
I undertook a five week residency in Nairobi, Kenya courtesy of the Gasworks and Triangle Networks's International Fellowship scheme. A full blog can be found at http://chrispauldaniels.blogspot.com
The documentary output of the residency, Premier/Divisions, is currently in post-production and will premiere in Nairobi in March 2013.
As above, so below
Part of the The Falmouth Art Gallery collection.
Family Tree HD Video, 16 mins 36 seconds (continuos loop)
Glimpses of lives rooted in the same space, branched across time.
JW Brunskill created over 17,000 glass-plate portraits of residents of the Windermere region between 1860 and 1900.
Family Tree interweaves these portraits with micro-environments within the same space and contemporary perspectives by local residents on their communal and collective histories.
Commissioned for the exhibition Sublime Transactions,
Featured in The Guardian, Saturday 19th May 2012
Sublime Transactions:
Contemporary responses to the Armitt Collection
The Armitt Museum and Library Centenary Exhibition Open 31st March 2012 until 22nd March 2013
Who are we, if not a combination of experiences, information, books we have read, things imagined? Each life is an encyclopaedia; a library, an inventory of objects, a series of styles, and everything can be constantly reshuffled and reordered in every conceivable way. (Italo Calvino, Six Memos for the Next Millennium)
Sublime Transactions, the work of 15 artists, seeks to take us back to the roots of the museum by creating new works, inspired by their chosen artefacts from the Armitt collection. It may perhaps be seen as a process of reconnecting with the objects which lie within the strange organized disorder of the museum cabinet. Their diverse and often surprising responses are shown alongside a selection of work drawn from the museums permanent collection.
Our purpose as a museum is not only to articulate the heritage of the area, to preserve memory in the same way in which memory itself functions as a museum, but to reveal interconnections and create a dialogue- a unifying fugue. We hope that this exhibition may offer those new insights and fresh connections. Writing in 1930 Georges Bataille described the concept of the museum as the colossal mirror in which man, finally contemplating himself from all sides, finds himself literally an object of wonder. We sincerely hope that Mary Louisa Armitt and all those who have worked so tirelessly throughout the first century of our existence for reasons more like love than purpose, would approve.
Artists:
Hannah Rae Alton, Sir Peter Blake, Chris Paul Daniels, John Ellis, Paul Farley, Karoline Hjorth, Derek Horton, Riitta Ikonen, Russell Mills, Kate Morrell, Eileen Ramsay, Carole Romaya, David Toop, Ian Walton, Jon Wozencroft
Screen grabs from Family Tree below:
Screened as part of the touring One Minute Volume 6 touring programme as well as 'Filmed Up' at the Cornerhouse and at Sudden Infant's performance at St Margaret's Church in Manchester.
A documentary I filmed, directed and edited about the island and the inhabitants of Schiermonnikoog in the Netherlands, the setting of the Joint Music Masters in New Audiences and Innovative Practice Summerschool 2011. Special thanks to Dick Kool/Van Der Werf for use of the archive footage. Also thanks to Chris Bartholomew for the sound editing of the performance footage.
On again/ off again also to be found on www.soanyway.org
Please double click on the video to play it
Shot in a children's playground and accompanied by a Cypriot nursery rhyme (vocals by Maria Anastassiou), the filmed world revolves around us. Originally shot for the event Attack of the 50ft Reels at Sheffield DocFest 2009 where the film and audio were synched for the very first time at a public screening. Also screened at Cambridge Super-8 Festival 2009, Interim Show 2009 at the Royal College of Art, Cinema Corporel in Leeds 2011 and Unravel's Residence at 157 Robert Street in 2011.
16mm film re-animating an episode of Eastenders frame by frame over twelve hours. Part of a triptych video installation recently shown at The Plaza Principle in Leeds.
A film I made to document 'Is it Over', including my own work 'The World at your feet (II)'.
An exhibition from a selection of emerging contemporary artists reacting site specifically to the conceptual and physical properties of a derelict World War II bunker situated underground in Dalston, East London. Featured Artists:
Xavier Antin, Rupert Burton, U Jae Chung, Maurice Citron, Isaac Cordal, Callum Cooper, Chris Paul Daniels, Steven Emmanuel, Esmeralda Munoz-Torrero, Jan Lun Lee, Genetic Moo, Robert Nicol, Emily Paige Short, Richard Thomas.
Also available to view here: www.isitover.co.uk
Images one to four - installation views of 'The World at your feet (II)'.
A one minute film documenting a public intervention made in my first term at the Royal College of Art. Screening as part of the One Minute Volume 5 touring programme curated by Kerry Baldry http://oneminutevolume5.blogspot.co.uk/
A six week digital video study of my back yard in Bow whilst living in London in 2009. Exhibited at 'Lets rule out aliens for now and concentrate on what we know', Hockney Gallery, Royal College of Art, 2009
Film and video maker. Originally from Rotherham in South Yorkshire, I studied in London for two years at the Royal College of Art after eight years of living and working in Leeds and now live in Manchester.
My collaborative project with Maria Anastassiou, Unravel, was awarded the Deutsche Bank Award for Art 2010 and is touring the UK to create 'the longest hand painted film in Britain' unravelfilm.blogspot.com
EDUCATION
MA Communication Art and Design, Royal College of Art, 2010.
BA Hons (First Class) Art and Design, Leeds Metropolitan University, 2003.
AWARDS Deutsche Bank Award for Art 2010
Royal College of Art Travel Grant 2009
Royal College of Art Bursary 2008
COMMISSIONS/ COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS Current/Upcoming
One Square Mile - Northern Artist Film commission with Sam Meech. Co-commission by Quays Culture and University of Salford, exhibited at Lightwaves 2016, Media City 9th - 18th December 2016.
HOME - major commission for group show ‘SAFE’ opening November 13th-January 3rd 2016
EIGHT - collaborative project to mark opening of British Consulate in Wuhan, China between HOME (Mcr), Brighter Sound (Mcr), K11 (China) and Vox (K11) funded by the British Council and Manchester City Council.
INDUSTRY - live performance, with Oerknal in Amsterdam and The Hague,March 2015.
A Tiger’s Skin (Solo show) - Exhibition at the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA) in Manchester.(December 18th 2014 - March 22nd 2015) outcome of British Council and Arts Council England Artists’ International Development Fund (AIDF) to participate in Transnational Dialogues China Caravan 2014.
2014
Sub-titled - outcome of an Arts Council England funded three week residency initiated by Northern Film and Media at the NewBridge Project in Newcastle as part of the Connect/Exchange residency.
Realm of the Radicals - commission by new music collective Oerknal! to create live visuals for rendition of Chimeras by John Zorn alongside work by Harry Partch and Ralph Shapey.
NAIP Summer school 2014 Stykkishólmur, Iceland. Teaching role and creation of Collaborative projects with MA Students on international music masters degree. Culminating in several bespoke live video projections at venues such as Roni Horn’s Artangel commission ‘The Library of Water’
Screening of Premier/Divisions in Locomotion Artists Moving Image Festival (London), Leeds (Wharf Chambers), South Africa (Ginsberg Film Festival), and Arts Council England funded screening at TOAST in Manchester as part of Shady Dealings with Language.
2013
Public Images, Commission for Virgin Records 40th Anniversary Exhibition, collaboration with Kelvin Brown and Sam Meech. Installed at Virgin 40 and commercial release as downloadable app.
Premier/Divisions, Kuona Trust, Nairobi, Kenya (via The Gasworks/Triangle Network), screened at Cornerhouse Manchester, Art Licks Weekend London, Nai Ni Who? Nairobi, and Kuona Trust Arts Centre, Nairobi.
Nordic Arts, Groninger Museum, The Netherlands (performed live in December 2012 and re-screened in February 2013)
2012
Dom Sylvester Houédard and the Cosmic Typewriter, South London Gallery (film commission and photos in Occasional Papers publication)
Sublime Transactions, The Armitt Museum and Library, Ambleside, Cumbria (Group Show also featuring Peter Blake, David Toop and Russell Mills)
Unravel 'Work In Progress' Installation- Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
Unravel 'Work In Progress' Installation - Firstsite Gallery (Colchester)
Visual commission for the band Jazzfinger - Star and Shadow Cinema, Newcastle
2011
Unravel 'Work In Progress' Installation- Chisenhale Gallery, London
Unravel 'Work In Progress' Installation- Berwick Film Festival, Berwick Upon Tweed
Unravel 'Work In Progress' Installation- The Arnolfini, Bristol
Unravel 'Work In Progress' Installation- Bradford Animation Festival, National Media Museum, Bradford
Unravel 'Work In Progress' Installation- Document 9 International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Glasgow
2010
Site Specific Installation, various works- Constellations Festival, Leeds University, Leeds.
Raymond Scott : Music Machines and Mystery- Manchester
Moon landing- Islington Mill, Manchester. (Installation accompanying live performances by Biting Tongues, Graham Massey, Matt Halshaw, Massonix)
2009
Perceptive Safari - Purfleet Heritage Museum, Essex, 2009.
2006
Holy Trinity Church, Leeds. (accompanying performances by sound artists including Jackie-O Motherfucker)
SOLO SHOWS 2015 A Tiger’s Skin, Centre for Contemporary Chinese Art, Manchester (18 December 2014 - 22nd March 2015)
You are Here - outcome of funding with Birmingham City Council and A3 Project Space working with residents from Digbeth and Bordersley. 20th - 29th March 2015.
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS/ SCREENINGS
2016 One Square Mile, Lightwaves 2016, Media City (9th - 18th December 2016)
YOU ARE A POWERHOUSE!(commissioned by HOME): ICA London (November 2015)HOME Manchester (November - Jan 2016) IFVA at Hong Kong Arts Centre (March 2016) Winnipeg Underground Film Festival (June 2016) Bedlam Fringe - Edinburgh Fringe Festival (August 2016) Arts and Literature Lab, Wisconsin (August 2016) The Tetley at Leeds International Film Festival (November 2016) Sea Change Festival, Totnes, with Video Social Club (August 2016) Plymouth Art Weekender, with Video Social Club (September 2016) Visions in the Nunnery (exhibition December 2016)
Election/Coverage: Tasmania International Video Art Festival (September 2016) LightWorks (October 2016) 27th International Ankara Film Festival (May 2016)
One Minute Volume Eight (multiple locations) One Minute Volume Nine (multiple locations)
2015 SAFE, HOME, Manchester (13th November 2015 - 3rd January 2016)
Compression Culture, Vertical Gallery, Manchester School of Art (26th November - 15th January 2016)
3rd Ural Biennial, Russia. (September 9th - November 10th 2015)
Film Material TOAST - Federation House, Manchester.
2014 Film Material Soup #9 - The NewBridge Project, Newcastle
Inclusion in touring programmes One Minute Volume 8 and Basement Media Festival (New York, Baltimore, Boston, Winnipeg, Toronto, Milwaukee, Chicago, Austin, Tucson) and Screenscapes (London, Cyprus)
Inclusion in programmes at Waterscapes Film Festival (Riga) and LIFT Festival (Toronto).
Rogue Open Studios, Manchester
Extracts from A Tiger’s Skin screened at Maxxi Rome, Castlefield Gallery Manchester, Trinity Laban Centre London, Video Fag Toronto.
This has nothing to do with Politics, curated by Jack Tan (with Cordelia Cembrowicz, Ana Fernández Aballí-Altamirano, Ella Finer, Rose Gibbs, Marlene Haring, Olivia Hicks, Noga Inbar, Virgile Ittah, Vesta Kroese, Ratna Lachman, Ekua McMorris, Oscar Murillo, PA Skantze, Jack Tan, Nicola Thomas, Geoff Tibbs, Richard Wentworth.)
2013
Film Material Soup #8 (Event at Rogue Artist's Studios Project Space)
Presents, exhibition with Rosie Farell, curated by Ahmed and Carpenter, Rogue Artist's Studios Project Space.
Ingenuity Festival, Cleveland Institute of Art
Tele Visions, Sydney
One Minute Volume Seven - De La Warr Pavillion, Bexhill
One Minute Volume Seven - Cofi Roc, Caernarfon
One Minute Volume Seven - Museum of Club Culture, Hull
Royal College of Art SHOW 2013 (collaboration with Kelvin Brown)
Collaborative Project with Video Jam, Royal Northern College of Music
BYOB Dublin
The Living Room, Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester.
Rogue Open Studios, Manchester.
Summer Show, Malgras Naudet Gallery, Manchester.
Film Material Soup (Event organiser during Mis-directed Movies exhibition) at The Royal Standard, Liverpool
One Minute Volume Six - Furtherfield Gallery, London
One Minute Volume Six - Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe
2012
One Minute Volume Six - The Horse Hospital, London
One Minute Volume Six - Alexandra Park, Manchester
One Minute Volume Six - Museum of Club Culture, Hull
One Minute Volume Six - Aid and Abet, Cambridge.
Filmed Up - Cornerhouse
Sudden Infant - St.Margaret's Church, Manchester
Silents- Royal College of Art, London (accompanied by live improvisation from David Cunningham)
Lightworks- Grimsby Cathedral, Grimsby
2011
One Minute Volume Five- Aid and Abet, Cambridge.
One Minute Volume Five- The Horse Hospital. London.
One Minute Volume Five- Peloton, Sydney.
One Minute Volume Five- Hull Film Festival.
One Minute Volume Five- Sheffield Hallam University.
One Minute Volume Five- Vertical Cinema, Cardiff.
One Minute Volume Five- FACT, Liverpool.
One Minute Volume Five- Directors Lounge, Berlin.
Visuals work at Bjorks Private Closing party- Manchester International Festival, Manchester (with DJ sets by Leila Arab, Graham Massey and Kelvin Brown)
Holmfirth Film Festival- Holmfirth
Cinema Corporel- Leeds
2010
The Plaza Principle- Leeds Shopping Plaza, Leeds (Curated by Derek Horton and Chris Bloor)
Lightyear Foundation group screening- The Science Museum, London
Acoustic Images- British Film Institute, London (Curator and featured artist).
Its not you, its me- Battersea Campus, Royal College of Art.
The end of the world as we know it- Lecture Theatre One, Royal College of Art.
RCA Show 2- Lower Gulbenkian Galleries, Royal College of Art.
Calling upon spirits- Testbed 1, Battersea, London.
Is it Over - Group Show, Dalston, London.
Wrong Love, A-Foundation, FACT Liverpool.
Collaboration with Composer David Ibbett- The Barbican, London.
Best of the 50ft Reels- Cambridge Super-8 Society, Cambridge.
Lets rule out aliens for now and concentrate on what we know- Hockney Gallery, Royal College of Art.
Attack of the 50ft Reels- Sheffield Doc Fest, Sheffield
2009
Design without Labels- Hockney Gallery, Royal College of Art.
On-line exhibitor- www.soanyway.org
2008
Communication Art and Design First Year Work in Progress Show- Blue Room, Royal College of Art, London (Curator and featured artist)
Views from nowhere- Ladyfest Leeds, Holy Trinity Church, Leeds. (Curator and featured artist)
2006
On-line exhibitor - www.slashseconds.org
EXP24 presents - Brudenell Social Club, Leeds.
AWARDS
Deutsche Bank Award for Art 2010.
Royal College of Art Travel Bursary to San Francisco, 2009.
Royal College of Art Bursary Award 2008-10
Nominated for The Arts Foundation Fellowship 2015 Design for Performance: Video and Digital
RESIDENCIES
2014 Participation on Transnational Dialogues/European Alternatives Caravan to China funded by British Council and Arts Council England Artist’s International Development Fund (AIDF). Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing and Chengdu.
Naip - Stykkishólmur, Iceland (Teaching Staff/Artist)
Northern Film and Media - The Newbridge Project, Newcastle.
2013 Gasworks/ Triangle Network - Kuona Trust, Nairobi, Kenya
2012 Naip - Sigtuna, Sweden (Artist and Visual Arts Project Leader)
2011 Camden Arts, 157 Robert Street, Camden Town, London.
NAIP - Schiermonikoog, The Netherlands (Artist and Visual Arts Project Leader)
2010 NAIP - Skalholt, Iceland. (Artist and Visual Arts Project Leader at Collaborative Masters Summer School in collaboration with classical musicians who amongst them have played for Arvo Part and Karlheinz Stockhausen)
COLLECTIONS
Falmouth Art Gallery Permanent Collection.
Armitt Museum Permanent Collection
Kuona Trust Permanent Collection
TEACHING WORKSHOPS
2014
Workshop leader/Participating Artist in Birmingham with A3 Gallery for ‘You are here’ with St.Basils/Members of Youth Homeless Parliament
Participatory Film Workshop with Blind Life in County Durham, a group of adults with visual impairment initiated by Jack Drum Arts
Workshop Leader for BFI Film Academy in County Durham
2010-2015: Workshop Leader/ Facilitator, Unravel The longest hand painted film in Britain - Over 100 Venues including: BFI London, Tate Britain London, Centre For Contemporary Arts Glasgow, Brighton Art Gallery, no.w.here, Flatpack Festival Birmingham, IKON Gallery, Turner Contemporary, Firstsite, FACT, Edinburgh Filmhouse, Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival, Whitworth Art Gallery, Brighton University, Bournemouth University, Royal College of Art, Camberwell College of Art, Sheffield Doc Fest and many more.
2006 - present: Involvement with and work included in screening nights of experimental film and video collective, EXP 24 since 2006, including helping to run workshops on film at Leeds Independent Media Exposition, LIFF, Hull International Short Film Festival, Lumen, Leeds College of Art and Design and Leeds University.
VISITING LECTURES & ARTIST TALKS
Current: Lecturer for BA Filmmaking, Manchester School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University
2014 - 16 Chairing of public Q&A’s at HOME including John Smith and Bill Butt, Heather Phillipson, Seamus Harahan, Rob Crosse, Redmond Entwistle, Gerry Fox (dir.’Marc Quinn - Making Waves’), Josephine Decker (dir.Butter on the Latch).
Host of ICA Artist Film Club at the Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool (2016)
Judge for DBACE 2015 and 2016 Awards (http://www.dbace.uk.com/judges/)
Guest Lectures at Guildhall School of Music and Drama Blackpool and the Fylde College UCA Canterbury Norwich University of the Arts
Selection panel for Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival
Associate Lecturer for Unit X- Manchester School of Art Metropolitan University (BA Filmmaking, BA Photography, BA Fine Art and BA Creative Multimedia)
2013 Prize Giver/International Jury - BFI Southbank, Kids for Kids Festival.
Kuona Trust, Nairobi
University of the Creative Arts, Canterbury (Fine Art)
2012
FACT, Liverpool
Leeds Metropolitan University (Contemporary Art Practices)
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
2011
National Media Museum, Bradford
Plymouth University
Department 21 at Islington Mill Art Academy, Manchester.
National Centre for Computer Animation, University of Bournemouth (Interdisciplinary BA Animation students)
University of Brighton (BA and MA Music and Visual Arts)
Hull School of Art and Design. (Interdisciplinary BA and MA students)
2010
Royal College of Art (Interdisciplinary MA Students)
Camberwell College of Arts. (MA Graphic Design Students)
University of Huddersfield (BA Digital Design)
STATEMENT
Artist and film maker Chris Paul Daniels' work is characterised by participation with the public and experimental documentation of communal perspectives and memories regarding geographical location. He has exhibited work nationally and internationally, including BFI Southbank, IKON Gallery, Chisenhale Gallery, National Media Museum, FACT and Cornerhouse. After graduating from the Royal College of Art, he won the Deutsche Bank Award for Art in 2010 for his collaborative project with Maria Anastassiou, Kelvin Brown and OKO Lab.
E-mail: christopher.daniels@network.rca.ac.uk
Mobile: (+44)7815127149