Dr Zeeman’s Catastrophe Machine Show

I've been aware of the poet Martin Figura for a couple of years. I've seen him perform three times before Thursday night's performance of Dr Zeeman’s Catastrophe Machine Show. The show was part of the Norfolk and Norwich festival. I don't think I've ever seen a more absorbing and spellbinding one person performance of poetry and prose. It seems to be a mix of autobiography and poetic licence, which along with some inspiring props and well displayed photos and graphics to support Martin's charming and humorous writing makes for a wondrous evening.

It's a show that will make you smile, laugh, empathise and engender an inner glow. If you get the chance it's a must see!

P-put it to the test-o

He said 'What do you think about my manifesto?'
'I like a manifesto, put it to the test-o.'

Sultans Of Ping F.C.:Where's Me Jumper?

I wrote this manifesto (below) in 1982 and it still pretty much sums up how I feel about art and my art in particular. Everybody can be an artist. Nobody can tell you what is and isn't art and what you should like. Nobody can tell you how to enjoy art. Art is not exclusively for the elite. Art really needs to be democratised.

Why does society continue to ask the wrong questions?

Why is society so fixated with quick fix solutions to failed outcomes, rather than truly questioning the diverse root causes of a particular problem? Things can only ever be improved if we are brave enough to think things through in greater detail than most people do now. Nothing is ever black and white. Answers are rarely simple, and on the odd occasion that they are society won’t accept them. Society doesn’t like the unpalatable ‘truth’. Society would rather blame a scapegoat than get to root causes.

All discrimination is evil. It only serves to divide society. Trying to right wrongs with other wrongs is wrong. It doesn’t work. Initially it might apply a superficial gloss and appear to be a solution but deep down, bubbling away will be the seeds of discontent, slowly seething and growing. Positive discrimination isn’t. It’s an oxymoron. Whilst the human race continues its fixation with competition there will always be discrimination in one form or another. Competition ensures that there are always winners and losers. Should we really label people losers? I don’t think so. Nobody should be considered a loser.

That brings me onto the over-hyped nonsense known as the Oscars. The recent comments and complaints about the racist nature of the Oscars along with Charlotte Rampling's reported opinions on the matter are all ignoring the obvious. Why is society not questioning the misguided need to have competitions right across the arts? The ‘best of’ label applied to any art form is totally without any validity. Appreciation of the arts can only ever be subjective. Popularity is never a measure of quality. There are no quality standards in the arts and any attempt to apply them is pure artifice. ‘Good’ or ‘bad’ can’t be applied to the vocabulary that describes the arts. Unfortunately many people can’t seem to cope with abstracts. They bizarrely have to categorise and objectivise the arts. But it doesn’t have to be this way. So rather than this smoke-screen of great debate about who said what and the possible nature of the alleged inherent racism within the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences why is nobody questioning the need for the Oscars in the first place?

Let’s eradicate arts competitions as they have no place in a civilised society!