Notworking networking - A creative meet-up

Glug Brighton at Circus Street Brighton

This was my first time attending a Glug meet-up event and from the reviews of previous attendees, it seemed like a good place to find a bunch of like-minded people, listen to some inspiring talks and of course have a few beers while we're at it. It is a Friday after all. It was also a good excuse to once again visit the incredible Circus Street Old Market warehouse which felt like a perfect setting for this creative gathering.

On arrival we were quick to put our hand to a bit of screen printing with The Private Press. They had teamed up with the colourful artist Ben Javens who had designed a limited addition print for each Glug attendee. We were encouraged to get involved and hand print the top colour to complete the artwork.
Picture 1 (above) - Circus Street Market Warehouse.

A firm hand and steady pressure is the key to a good screen printing technique, this way you get a fully consistent print across the paper and ensure the paint covers all the right places. All in all not a bad attempt (picture 2), although I did manage to miss the most important logo off the bottom of my print, sorry Private Press!

The free prints were a really nice touch to the event, offering a personal insight into the work of the studio. The Private Press specialise in hand pulled screen printing and offer their services to emerging and established artists - they collaborate with musicians, artists and designers to produce beautiful screen prints for exhibitions and one off collection prints. Picture 3. Private Press Business cards.

We later listened to an interactive presentation by digital artist Seb Lee-Delisle which was certainly inspiring. Playing with the boundaries of coding and art he embraces the concept of light and sound through his experiments, which in turn brought about his use of lasers in creative installations, such as the PixelPyros digital fireworks display.

Their fireworks show is controlled by the crowd, making for a completely interactive experience. By allowing the crowd to consume and create an impressive spectacle of light and sound the experience becomes completely unique and goes way beyond the concept of a visual firework display. Our own interactive experience was much smaller in scale but nonetheless it still gave us chance to test out a few features of this interactive design - using motion detection we were asked to form The Glug Band and 'Jam' by waving our hands around enthusiastically to get the digital Drum, Bass, Synth and Guitar to make sounds.

Moments passed and the thunder arrived & we were quickly reminded of the weakness of this quirky venue. Rain water hammered down through those areas of the building that were missing an all-important roof yet it all added to the idiosyncratic atmosphere and a few people embraced the chance to cool off and enjoy that feeling of running in the rain whilst inside...see our Vimeo.

The arrival of the rain gave heed to the upcoming re-development project for the old market venue.The project promises to create an 'Innovation Quarter' in the heart of Brighton. The scheme will introduce a mixture of private and affordable homes, creative workspaces and student accommodation. They plan to encourage community development by reviving local identity and supporting and participating in the arts. Learn more here. The municipal market space has been open to the community since December last year in order to encourage the community to get used to being in and using this part of the city. Although the redevelopment promises a lot for the community and this region of Brighton it seems quite a few of us are still keen to enjoy the space as it currently stands, for just a little while longer.

If you are creatively minded and interested in attending the next Glug Brighton then take a look at the page and sign up for the next event. The Brighton Glug group is a worthwhile networking event for anyone interested in creative, digital arts and marketing in Brighton. We only had one grumble, please sort the sound out for next time. Thank you!