Behind closed doors

A YouTube advent surprise in film and soundtrack

A VERY modern advent calendar has been created by a former Newbury artist... but don't expect to find any chocolates inside.

The canvas is YouTube and behind each of the 24 ‘doors' are one-minute films and soundtracks.

So far, the surprises have ranged from observations on life (and funny-looking seagulls), through whimsy, to the outright scary, and with no boundaries except the limits of the imagination what tomorrow's door will bring is anyone's guess.

The man behind the unusual project is Michael Fairfax, a former pupil at The Downs School, Compton, who has left and returned to the area several times in his life, having been brought up in Eling, and having studied at Newbury College in the 1970s. He now lives in Somerset.

He has spent his life in art and has continually produced creative works from the simplest surroundings, such as a camera obscura and sound piece in a fuel tank at Greenham Common in 2001, a place that had a profound effect on his life in earlier years.

Collaborating with his friend Rupert Green, and Green's son, Toby, who produced the music, the group took six weeks to create the Advent project.

How will this post-modern advent end on December 24? You'll have to log on to find out...

http://michaellfairfax.blogspot.com/