FEATURE: BLOOMSBURY FESTIVAL - ‘We all want to be surrounded by things that please the eye’
Published: 20 October, 2011
ARTIST Bridie Hall is a human magpie, a trawler of trinkets and treasures and a collator of curios: she and her partner Ben Penreath will be exhibiting their works at this year’s festival – and it draws on the best traditions of the English eccentric in the manner of a Victorian enthusiast.
They set up their Bloomsbury base in 2008. Half junk shop, half museum, and packed with surprises, it contains items filched and salvaged from across the land – be it from car boot sales or flea markets, antique dealers or architectural salvage works.
“It goes back to the Victorian tradition of collecting things,” Bridie says.
“I spend my life scavenging. It is just so interesting to find stuff that piques our curiosity.”
And she says the Cabinet of Curiosities, this year containing items with the hook “Geometric Solids”, fulfils a very clear need within our psyche.
“We have a continual search for beauty,” she says. “This is not a shallow thing – beauty and its appreciation is an intrinsic part of humanity. We all
want to be surrounded by things that please the eye.”
The Choir With No Name is another draw at the festival.
It is unique
as all the singers are, or have been, homeless.
Director Marie Benton started the choir after working at the homeless charity St Mungos.
A saxophonist who in her spare time sung and directed a gospel choir, she believed that the joy and experience of singing with others could help those suffering from the side effects of homelessness, such as isolation.
“Singing offers you the chance to forget about the worries you may have for a little while,” she says. “There is the fun of getting excited about performing too, as well as making new friends.”