Grid Arts and Grid Spinners – capturing the beauty of Milton Keynes
25th October 2021Something that you might not know about The Play’s The Thing Theatre Company, is that we are involved in Grid Arts - a Milton Keynes based collaborative venture with fellow artistic organisation, The Gray Circle.
Since its inception in 2015, Grid Arts has organised and delivered three large-scale projects within Milton Keynes. Two projects were part of MK50 celebrations in 2016, where we delivered several elements through working with MK College, MK Academy, Encompass and Camphill Community. The third project, “Border-Zone - Dreams, Memories and Realities”, took place in 2019 at MK Museum. This was led by The Gray Circle and featured Motus Dance and artist Anna Berry.
Grid Arts’ next project began in early 2021. When out and about within our wonderful town, you may have caught sight of our latest undertaking - Grid Spinners.
Grid Spinners was inspired by Thomas Gray, a by bicycle filmmaker, and his love of discovering MK. His three-person cycle team and Grid Arts are now creating a short film that will be a fast paced ‘magical mystery tour’ of Milton Keynes filmed from the perspective of a three-rider bike.
Shot throughout 2021, the film will almost entirely be from the perspective of a very special bicycle. Using five video cameras mounted to the bike and drones, the team are able to capture themselves and everything around them as they explore places, interact with different communities, events, schools and heritage locations all around Milton Keynes.
The team has already visited iconic places, including MK Museum, the concrete cows, Bletchley Park, MK Gallery, Campbell Park and many more exciting venues and events.
Once filming is complete the film will be edited to look like a single extraordinary excursion.
Thomas Gray says:
Underpasses will act as magical points of transition and both iconic and lesser-known MK landmarks will be included, along with passers-by such as runners, horse riders, cyclists, park users and commuters.
The film will also encounter public and sporting events such as the MK Dons, running festivals, community festivals and even delivery robots, demonstrating the diverse nature of Milton Keynes and reveal the fun and fellowship of travelling through a town that is ‘Different by Design’, while the flow of images, sounds and music will showcase the quality of urban and green landscapes that are waiting to be discovered.
Imagine joining a summer Reggae festival then turning a corner and getting caught in a snowfall. Or whirling through an underpass and ending up inside a football stadium.
The film is scheduled to premier Spring/Summer 2022, so do keep a look out for it!
You can follow the journey of the Grid Spinners via the Arts Grid social channels @GridArtsMK Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
This is an extremely exciting project to be part of and we can’t wait to see the final film.