Our Tees Valley Screen Steering Group is made up of individuals and companies working across the screen industries in the Tees Valley. The group helps to shape the content and direction of the programme to ensure that it meets the needs of the sector in the region. We are pleased to introduce its newest members, Alyson Agar and Caris Rianne.
Alyson Agar is an artist and lecturer living and working in Teesside. Her visual arts practice is rooted within lens-based theories and her photographic and film works explore dialogue between photographic and sculptural practices. Alyson’s work has been exhibited internationally; she has recently undertaken residencies in Iceland, Germany and the Ukraine. She is also the author of several photobooks, including ‘Elevations’ (2017), ‘Ukrainian Smile’ (2016), ‘Solid Paradise’ (2016) and ‘The Tricks: A Psychogeographic Survey’ (2015). In 2018, Alyson worked as a Researcher on a project entitled ‘Exhibiting Contemporary Photography in the Twenty First Century’. More recently, Alyson was selected as one of the first recipients of the Tees Valley Screen Artist Residencies programme. During this, Alyson explored augmented reality, immersive media and disrupted open source technology as a way to innovate oral history through video search. This research culminated in ‘The Living Archive – A Place, A Moment’, an immersive audio-visual installation in collaboration with Vlogbase, which premiered as part of Middlesbrough Art Weekender.
Caris Rianne is a film maker from Essex, having moved to Darlington two years ago she has used her production company Rianne Pictures to help drive film opportunities in the area with workshops and positions on set in their productions. To date, Rianne Pictures has produced seven short films, two promotional videos, a music video, a web series and a feature film. Caris’ films have screened in the US and Canada, collecting 15 award nominations in total. Her company focuses on increasing the female voice in the industry with their production teams being 80% female in their recent projects. You can learn more about Caris’ work, including ‘Foxhole’ (2018), ‘Extra Time’ (2016), and ‘Demi’ (2016), at www.riannepictures.com.
Welcome Alyson and Caris!