Author Archives: Simone Witney
Embodied Land: An exhibition of Sally Cole’s paintings
Rye Art Gallery until 30th by Simone Witney “I have walked out of the body and into the mountain. I am a manifestation of its total life, as is the…
HIP CLASSICS
The Greek gods What if they were alive today? Simone Witney looks at Dionysus (Roman Bacchus). Earth, wind, fire – and wine. While his sister, Athena, and companion Apollo were…
Power and Elegance as Stables Studios Adapts
The Stables Studio newsletter has adapted to the lockdown with all the grace and imagination that is characteristic of everything that the artists at Fairlight do. Photographs of them at…
HIP CLASSICS
The Greek Gods What if these deities were alive today? Of course I know they don’t exist, but they give us a rich language in which to describe experience. In…
HIP CLASSICS: The Greek Gods
What If These Deities Were Alive Today? Of course I know they don’t exist, but they give us a rich language in which to describe experience. In this issue: Apollo…
HIP CLASSICS
The Greek Gods What if these deities were alive today? Of course I know they don’t exist, but they give us a rich language in which to describe experience. In…
Gods Alight at the Forum
Simone Witney reviews the latest Stains and Traces show at the Arts Forum, running until 1st ; Colm Toibin has spoken of Seamus Heaney’s “always crediting the miraculous” as a…
HIP CLASSICS
The Greek Gods – What if these deities were alive today? My personal view is that the polytheism of the Greeks gives us a rich language in which to describe…
HIP CLASSICS – Seasonal Spiced Tales
Bigger than a fox, smaller than a dog? It’s an ant. GOLD The story of gold-digging ants is one of the most charming in Herodotus’ history (written around 460-50 BCE).…
HIP CLASSICS: The Greek Gods
What if we imagined these deities alive today? I have a personal view that the polytheism of the Greeks gives us a useful language in which to look at experience.…
Mind-body outdoor gymnastics
How much happier we would be, if we had all grown up infused with a feeling that we had the resources for what life was going to throw at us.…
Finding The Macro In The Micro – Alchemy At The blackShed
This is a show of photographs, ceramics and a poem. Each pot stands on its floating plinth with all the dignified composure of the truly ancient. Yet these exquisite soil-textured…
HIP CLASSICS
Nympholepsy – What’s it all about? Tales of Greek gods seducing women are well known, but there are stories of goddesses seducing men too. On this vase, Eos, goddess of…
So Where’s That Then? New And Nearly New Eateries In St. Leonards
I grew up in a house where Angel Delight was the acme of everyday luxury, so it’s a constant pleasure to find such a cornucopia of reasonably priced dishes created…
Passion Wins Over Process
The reconfiguring of open on grand parade Rossana Leal, whose award of Woman of the Year at the Women on the Move ceremony was featured in HIP issue 123, has…
HIP CLASSICS: Diminutive Monsters
The Myth of Arachne in Ovid and Velazquez Queen Victoria’s wedding dress was made of spider silk. It wouldn’t have been my choice. I wonder how many died during the…
A Treasury Of Community Ideas
The Common Treasury aims to bring into Hastings the experience of other UK organisations who have effected far-reaching change in their own communities. Driven by Energise Sussex and Jericho Road,…
White Liars and Black Comedy
By Peter Shaffer. Directed by Leigh Shine. The Stables 5th-13th April. Review By Simone Witney White LiarsThere was nothing amateurish about the production of White Liars by Peter Shaffer at…
Sunny Side Up
Ore Campus Solar Panels Installed In Six Days The feed-in tariff which pays back money for every solar energy kilowatt* produced by businesses and homes ended on 31st March. But…
Stairway To Heaven
Simone Witney reviews Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang Dir: Kevin Macdonald (2016) I’m told that the best way to appreciate a foreign country is to live like the…
Respect Existence or Expect Resistance
Simone Witney talks to Lucy Bell and David Rhodes about the Tom Hunter show Karam at Rock-a-norePICTURE: Tom Hunter The title is a phrase I spotted among a wall of…
‘No Smoke’ Makes A Perfect Fire
How to reduce air pollution and save money by keeping your stove-handling skills bright and shiny Though wood and coal are time-honoured materials for fires, they can still cause pollution…
The Jeweller, the Chimney Sweep and the Sales Exec
If I tell you that I’m talking about one person here, you may think I’m just making a sweeping statement. On the other hand, if you have spent much time…
HIP CLASSICS
What’s with the Hat?! If you just stumbled across this photo of a beautiful man you might think it was someone’s lover or friend; you might weave all kinds of…
More Stimulating than Stimmung
Simone Witney previews Price on Application, written by Lisa Harmer-Pope and directed by Leigh Shine Stimmung is a German word meaning the atmosphere of home. It was used by Mario…
Mary Shelley (2018)
Director: Haifaa al-Mansour. Kino-teatr 17th JanuaryReviewed by Simone Witney This film is the result of a collaboration between the screen writer, Emma Jenson and Haifaa al Mansour, the first female film…
HIP CLASSICS: Paris, Texas. Ithaca. Same Timing, Different Time
There’s a very moving scene in director Wim Wenders’ film ‘Paris,Texas’ in which Harry Dean Stanton’s character, finding his long lost wife, played by Nastassja Kinski, tells her the story…
HIP Views Cycling from the Slipstream
If you think that a bunny hop is the kind of jump a rabbit does when it’s surprised, then you’re clearly a turkey or a squirrel. In the cycling world,…
Raw Refinement
The RAW Show at Omega Studios 28th September to 28th October, curated by Tessa Sambrook Review by Simone Witney This is a truly extraordinary show; not just for the quality…
HIP CLASSICS: The Odyssey: The Pursuit of Paradise
In almost my most favourite book, The Mark and The Void by Paul Murray, a Greek waitress hands a customer some baklava and says: “In Greek we say nostimo. Which…
Pygmalion Turns Abstract
Bernard Mcguigan Sculpture Show at The Lawn 1st–2nd September and in his studio at The Beacon during Coastal Currents. Preview by Simone Witney In the middle of a delightful conversation…
Sea Kale Cafe: Abseiling Chef Tops Out In St. Leonards
Sea Kale is a small cafe in London Rd near the centre of Opened early this year by Matt and Emma Kennard-Bowen, it’s on the shady side of the street,…
Spools Out
Themed film screenings for families. Dress up and chill out Review by Simone Witney How often do we wish to tear children away from their devices for something more natural…
Land
an exhibition of Sally Cole’s work at Thompson Spare Art, Tunbridge Wells, and Stables Studios, Barley Lane. 30th June - 1st July. ‘a mass of beauty harvested from grand materials’*…
Creative Cosmos: The Beacon
If you can tear yourself away from the stunning view which hurls a shining arc of sea at you on the bend of Priory Road, you’ll find a ragged path…
HIP CLASSICS: The Odyssey – Am I Bothered?
The Odyssey is full of enchantment for its characters and its audience. Some of this comes from the wealth of domestic detail: the preparation of meals and baths, descriptions of…
Two Upcoming Films at Kino-Teatr
McQueen 2018 (Dir: Peter Ettedgui and Ian Bonhôte) 12th &13th July Anyone who saw the V&A exhibition of Alexander McQueen’s work, Savage Beauty, will need no persuading to see this. It’s…
Print Matters
Every seaside town should have its urban rock pools: places where time drifts delightfully while your curiosity and imagination are captivated by the familiar and the unexpected. An independent book…
PREVIEW – Let’s Fly, Let’s Fly
Jason Singh and Anna Helena McLean (Mo Fo) Mix It Up at the Kino-teatr A Sonic Return to the Source is previewed Can you imagine a form of music that…
Bearding Mary: Perseus and Medusa Herstory not History
HIP CLASSICS BY SIMONE WITNEY Medusa is a gorgon, a monster with snakes for hair, whose glance alone will turn you to stone. Perseus is a young Greek who cuts…