We are delighted to announce a groundbreaking new exhibition “Annwn: Folklore, Futurism and Escapism” organised by Tŷ Pawb’s Youth Advisory Board.

The newly formed Youth Advisory Board (YAB) have been collaborating with artist Harold Offeh as a collective of artists, developing a manifesto.

Outcomes from this process, including artworks and performances, occupy this gallery in the form of an exhibition which focuses on themes of folklore, Welsh futurism and escapism.

Click here to view the exhibition

This event will be held online via Zoom – meeting details will be provided before the event.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/annwn-sgwrs-ar-gymroddyfodolaeth-discussion-on-welsh-futurism-tickets-158566471585

Panelists:
Rhodri ap Dyfrig
Miriam Elin Jones (chair)
Ani Saunders
Hefin Jones
Bedwyr Williams

This event, delivered in the Welsh language, brings together five panelists to discuss the theme of Welsh Futurism. Simultaneous translation will be available for non-Welsh speakers.

Coordinated by Ty Pawb with the newly formed Youth Advisory Board (YAB), the event forms part of the public programme for Ty Pawb’s current exhibition, Annwn.

The YAB have been developing a manifesto to represent their vision for Ty Pawb, which the exhibition encompasses. Annwn (Welsh for The Otherworld) focuses on the Board’s chosen themes of folklore, futurism and escapism.

The Board are quoted as saying:

“Bridging both the future and the past, we question the potential to re-imagine Welsh culture by creating our own world – the Otherworld of Annwn.”

The five panelists have been brought together due to their participation in the exhibition and/or their association with the themes set out by the Board.

Rhodri ap Dyfrig: Rhodri ap Dyfrig is S4C’s Online Content Commissioner, blogger, and Welsh-language social media expert. He is listed by Aberystwyth University as among the 50 most influential people in Higher Education who use social media in Wales. He recorded the history of the sci-fi genre in an article called ‘Cymroddyfodoliaeth’ (Welsh Futurism) on the ‘Medium’ website in November 2014, which uses the hashtag #cymroddyfodol (#welshfuturism) on Twitter to address this genre in Welsh. He is also one of the founders of the Welsh information technology group Hacio’r Iaith (Hacking the Language), which he founded jointly with Carl Morris and Rhys Wynne on 30 January 2010. His Welsh Web History timeline, published in 2014, records some of the important milestones in the history of the web.

Miriam Elin Jones: Miriam Elin Jones studied Welsh science fiction literature as part of her PhD degree from Aberystwyth University, tracing the development of the genre and analysing its images and taking an interest in what future portraits have to say about the present. Miriam is also a creative writer, a member of Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru’s New Playwrights Group and part of the crew who founded literary magazine Y Stamp.

Ani Saunders: Ani Saunders is a well-known artist – a designer, photographer and an electronic pop musician and producer who performs under the name Ani Glass. Her most notable recent work is her debut album Mirores, described by Buzz Magazine as “A triumph from one of the leading figures of the Welsh-language pop-music boom”. Originally from the Riverside area in Cardiff, she now lives in the neighbouring community of Grangetown, which borders Butetown and Cardiff Bay.

Ani was raised in both Cornish and Welsh, and, along with her father and sister, is a member of Gorsedh Kernow. She graduated from John Moores University, Liverpool with a degree in fashion and design, and in 2018 returned to higher education to complete a Master’s degree in the Department of Geography and Planning at Cardiff University. She is currently working on a doctorate looking at how old-industrial towns in Wales are changing and developing. Ani is very interested in contemporary, cultural and linguistic issues.

Hefin Jones: Hefin Jones is a designer living in Wales, working across wider national and international localities. Hefin often works with public, cultural and educational institutions as part of collaborative research and design projects. Recent projects and collaborations include the Wales Millennium Centre, Victoria and Albert Museum, Wellcome Centre for Neuroimaging, National Theatre Wales, and Crafts Council.

Bedwyr Williams: Bedwyr Williams is an artist working across various media including video, performance, sculpture and text, often bringing them together as larger installations. He is interested in the friction between the deadly serious and the banal aspects of modern life. Often he satirises the role of the artist and that of the curator against this backdrop creating cruel, absurd scenarios for them to appear in.

Bedwyr Williams’ solo shows include Barbican Curve Gallery in London, Limoncello in London, The Whitworth in Manchester, g39 in Cardiff, the Welsh Pavilion for 55th Venice Biennale, IKON in Birmingham, and an upcoming exhibition, Milquetoast, at Tŷ Pawb in July 2021.

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The event will include presentations from each panelist, screenings of films by Hefin Jones and Bedwyr Williams, and closes with an open discussion.

Family Art Club Online: Woodland Creatures Collage Workshop

Join designer maker Menai Rowlands in designing your own watercolour collage! Have a go at exploring, developing and realising your ideas through using this fun technique!

Saturday, 29/05/21, 10am – 11am

Book now via Eventbrite. £2 per family.

Limited free places available for families in financial difficulty, please email heather.wilson@wrexham.gov.uk for more information.

What you’ll need in advance: Materials – watercolour paper (or white card if you don’t have any), scrap paper, watercolour paints, fine liner or other black pen, your old drawings, collage materials – for example old newspapers or packaging, glue stick or PVA glue, paintbrushes

We welcome participation in both Welsh and English. Most suitable for children aged 4 to 11. Children attending online sessions MUST be accompanied by an adult. Booking essential.

Menai Rowlands is a designer maker based in Caernarfon, Gwynedd and graduated in a BA(Hons) Product Design from Swansea School of Art in 2015. She revels in working in mixed-media, collaborating and sharing ideas with other creatives. In her most recent work she designs and makes laser cut wooden jewellery and paints surreal watercolour illustrations inspired by technology, dreams and memories.

This major new body of work by Welsh artist Bedwyr Williams, painting and interrogates the role of the art institution within contemporary society. Via sculpture, video drawing, Williams parodies fetishistic architectural motifs and bureaucratic hierarchies appropriated within the culture sector and the city.

MILQUETOAST is a Southwark Park Galleries touring exhibition in partnership with Tŷ Pawb and Aberystwyth Arts Centre.