The Imaginists
We began as a group by making a project in 2008 in Venice and ended circa 2019 with a Project called Outside: Inside

In 2008 I was awarded by the Arts Council England 32k to make a project in Venice and so I paid for 6 artists flights accommodation and food to capture two projects called Once Upon a Time (Un Tempo Una Volta) and also Portraits of Cannaregio shot on 4k even before we could exhibit the results on screen - which was an extension of Portraits of Glastonbury Tor, shot earlier that year which used Victorian exposure times to have the subject enter frame, and Georgian and Victorian portraiture values (the subject stands in front of something or holds something that speaks to who they think they are) then they stand still for one minute and exit frame. That then became a set of 8 portraits from around the world -  into portraits New York, Beijing (created before Charlotte and I got to Xi’an)…. Also each artist created a piece of work in Venice - one of which was a piece of paper covered in light sensitive material and placed in a box to make a a lensless exposure of us all.  Maybe you’ll grasp better where I’m coming from - it’s not about mass controlling group it’s about striving for excellence.

Once Upon a Time in Venice (Un Tempo Una Volta) 2024 14 minutes
​Once Upon a Time in Venice (Un Tempo Una Volta) is an evocative artwork by Terry Flaxton created to draw the viewer into a deeper appreciation of the Venice that exists behind the scenes and offers a magical journey from the tangible to the mystical. This Venetian phrase, when translated into English, is emblematic of the classic opening to many fairy tales and sets the stage for an exploration that deepens the conventional Venetian experience. Through a masterful avoidance of the obvious—eschewing water imagery—Flaxton employs reflection and refraction to gradually transition from clear to kaleidoscopic visions of Venice, pushing the boundaries between reality and fantasy. The piece begins with a journey beneath Venice's bridges, where colored silk cascades over the camera lens, creating brief veils into another realm. This artwork is not just an exploration of Venice as a physical space but a deeper dive into what Venice symbolizes, attempting to thin the veil between the real and the imaginary. Flaxton challenges the viewer to look beyond the scenic to discover Venice’s essence, making Once Upon a Time in Venice a unique reinterpretation of the city, untouched by the waters that define it. Available to purchase here:  www.seditionart.com/terry-flaxton/once-upon-a-time-in-venice-un-tempo-una-volta

We created some exhibitions around the portraits including London, Bristol and Los Angeles - but come 2018 the Imaginists group gathered together again (named after a Russian experimental group 100 years before in 1918 or so) and we decided to make a collective piece called Inside:Outside where we would take the human values generated recently and place them in the space we once inhabited… But of course it rains in the UK so the clearing in a wood we selected what impossible rains that prohibited that coming off (Spring and Autumn here can be unpredictable) so we switched track and created Outside:Inside rewrote out brief such that we took prehistoric concerns into todays architecture of capitalism. What that meant was that we realised we had to go into Robert Graves mentality to examine what made meaning prior to mechanisation - however, before that we had a problem which was that the rectangular space we were to perform in was split down the middle longways by a set of pillars maybe ten feet apart - not the best space to perform in.

So, yet again we revised our thinking (that’s what it’s all about right - each revision must produce going forwards and not acceeding to everyone’s fear of change)? So at one end of the main rectangle, spilt off by pillars to our left with on the right hand side maybe ten seated people across, there was a stage upon which we put a 20 foot screen. On the other side of the pillars also ten seated people wide but at the exact other end - we put another 20 foot screen - such that if two trains were passing in one snapshot two audiences could view eachother facing in opposite directions… that was a key moment because a terrible limitation provided an incredible opportunity not to self do that again). Then between the pillars we located 5 singers and a small platform with a cellist and another space with a flautist and overtone singer who could play and also sing at the same time which meant that by looking away from the screens each audience could experience real performance values.
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Around the entire space Charlotte had written Ogham words for trees which were 120 inches by 18 inches with huge Ogham Characters written in a kind of Chinese calligraphy style… with ivy and a variety of plant branches so the space smelt good.

At the right hand end behind the audience looking forward I sat with a guitar and my now 80 something year old and amazing friend Bronwyn (who’s daughter Robin lives in Venice where we did the premier of the Cannaregio pieces on a bridge facing a studio window with tracing paper on it where we projected our opening night Portraits of Cannaregio - probably 200 local Venetians turn up and we all had cheap prosecco and a wheel of local cheese - it’s all connected and another story) S Bronwyn sat with a keyboard so that the other audience could see us playing and sometimes people turned around from the audience we were behind and sometimes performers wandered to their front. The main soundtrack was on the one hour video show intermixed with performance accompanying it with me controlling most of it via computer through a surround sound system.

All of that is about adapting to change in every moment - strung out with arguments and epiphanies about how we as a group could embrace not only change - but proceed with excellence and a step change in quality. People around here still talk about that show now. - So here’s the overall much concerned with trees and the Ogham Alphabet (to be found in many prehistoric sites) which Charlotte’s mum spoke within and at the beginning I stood in front of one screen and announced that the audience was to pronounce the old Welsh they would hear and join in and then walked to the other end to face the other audience and tell them the same - as I walked back Andrew out 70 year old technician started this video. It begins with the sound of water and a statement to immediately bring the audience into our zone and all of the two audiences of 200 people joined in.

What followed in the beginning two minutes of Outside:Inside is how we trained the audience into accepting what we were trying to achieved in the first two minutes of this - so we got Charlotte mum, then 89 to speak in her native Welsh ;language which proposed an early set of values in itself and you can hear how we trained the audience in those values at this next URL. As this happened the image/soundtrack started over which I and Emily the cellist played live and Steve the overtone flautist and the singers with percussive small symbols wandered around the audience delivering sonic pleasures. 

Rehearsals for Outside: Inside

OutSide:Inside

OutSide:Inside