LAUNCH EVENT: 13/11/09 6-9PM AT THE SHELL GROTTO, GROTTO HILL, MARGATE, CT9 2BU

EXHIBITION THE OPENS: 15/11/09 AND 19-22/11/09 12-5PM AT CRATE PROJECT SPACE

Crate has commissioned Juneau Projects to create a new live work for Margate’s famous Shell Grotto. The piece, entitled ‘Formosa’ (the former name for Taiwan - from the Portuguese word for ‘beautiful’), builds upon the artists' ongoing interests in both vernacular architecture and in the potential for crossover between musical performance and artistic production.

It takes as its starting point the enigmatic history of the Grotto and its documented use as a place for séances, also considering the use of electrical technology as a means for recording paranormal activity.

The underground Grotto, in which 4.6 million shells form an uninterrupted 2000sqft mosaic of patterns and symbols, was discovered in 1835 by James Newlove when he lowered his son into a hole that appeared as they were digging a duck pond. Its original purpose is still the subject of much speculation: It has been described variously as a pagan temple, a Georgian folly and the meeting place for a secret cult.

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Arts Council England have confirmed support for BAD TRANSLATION, the arts programme developed by Matthew de Pulford for Crate through its first Curatorial Bursary.

The programme comprises six events due to take place between October 2009 and June 2010. Artists confirmed for the programme include Juneau Projects, Lucy Harrison, Mark Gubb, Tom Duggan, Juan Cruz and James Howard.

BAD TRANSLATION looks at the challenges that arise when we communicate: a set of differences and absences that stand between subject, speaker and audience. The programme will ask what part these differences and absences play in contemporary life, and how tools designed to aid communication can be used or abused.

The programme is also supported by Kent County Council.

OPENS 9/10/09 6-9PM

Crate presents an exhibition of new work by James Howard.

Howard has created two videos and four gigantic banners featuring budget holidays, herbal remedies, coin-operated televisions and pawn shops.

Each piece is a promise of a better life, a consumer con or an offer that is too good to be true: Gold Rush encourages people to steal "Nanna's gold" and turn it into cash, Coin Op Plasmas demands "another few quid" because Jeremy Kyle is on telly. And Dirt Cheap Flights aims to pull crowds away from Britain’s sea-side resorts.

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Crate hosted 'GONE TO EARTH' in November, the third in a series of experimental residencies undertaken by Judith Alder and Roz Cran as part of their BREAKING GROUND collaboration.

The artists worked in the Project Spaces at Crate from 21st to 30th November 2008, with a talk and discussion on the project's development on Saturday 29th November.

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In May 2008 Margate Rocks presented its sixth contemporary art festival. The festival celebrates and promotes contemporary art. The theme for Margate Rocks 2008 was Art and Ecology, and under the curatorship of Jessica Baum, the festival presented a programme of commissioned works, exhibitions, workshops and symposia in a variety of spaces. Crate hosted a residency in Project Space 1 during April and May for an artist to create new work for Margate Rocks.

For further information on Margate Rocks contact:
hello@margaterocks.com

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