Fusion @ Hull University - 1 March to 1 April By Michelle Dee Clark Photographs courtesy of Johnny B and Glynis Neslen

Contemporary multimedia art from Hull: art-music-film 1 March to 1 April Monday to Friday 2-4pm (Wednesday 12.30-4pm) Tearing through the traffic on a cold Monday evening, anxiously watching the big hand tick by quarter past seven.. We were supposed to be at the Middleton Hall on the Hull University grounds for Fusion.

Tonight was the private view and opening evening of the student-directed multimedia exhibition. I was resplendent in my striking thisisull.com T-shirt and was met on the steps of the building by my young ladies, wearing equally striking T-shirts with the Fusion logo emblazoned on them.

As I write this, Fire by Arthur Brown is playing in the background. This is quite apt because when I looked round the entrance to Middleton Hall I saw a fire juggler and a couple of regular ones as well. So with images of liquid orange fire burning bright against the dark, austere buildings, I entered the gallery space. It was packed with at least a hundred people, which was to grow to two hundred plus as the night wore on. I paused at the foot of the stairs, enthralled by John William Bates' tricolour piece intriguingly titled And this is K, Doctor. I was to talk with the artist later on. I was then caught by Digital Forms in Darkness by Graham Elder. The metallic images reminded me of empty pill packets.

I have to admit to feeling a little lost amongst all this artwork and these art enthusiasts drinking complimentary bubbly. In a need to find a familiar face, I found Steven Trevor, my artist friend, and his two exhibits. He was standing beside a rectangular glass case with two slowly deflating purple balloons sitting in the corner. They looked rather sad and forlorn in their see-through prison. This strange installation was titled After Christmas.

Steven Trevor was also showing his quite considerable talent with pastels. The picture Old Man depicted a typical old gent sipping on a pint of mild in quiet contemplation. As I moved on, many pictures caught my eye. My progress was accompanied by the turntable trickery of various live DJs (see full line-up . . .) I peered inside another glass case to find Clare Fisher's poem called Sitting in Class. She was questioning what it is to be a woman and an artist in a post-modern society. Her verse was well observed and just as moving as her pictures.

It was at that moment Adele Howitt's nine digital photos entitled Landscape is a Memory of . . . caught my attention. One picture in particular really fired my imagination: Fridge on Sunk Island; the blue-gold, watery, reflective sky really was beautiful.

A couple of other pieces I found striking and amusing, in that order, were Layla Jabbari's Crumpled and Creased and Josh Easterby Jackson's The Lude Carnal Desires of the Wombat No's 515 to 1008.6 followed by his Mochaccino (sic). Ah, I thought, a sense of humour.

I looked closely at this picture, and alongside a wombat, happily feeding off a man's face, I saw the words like a lot of people who can't sleep I am an insomniac. Looking at the price list, I saw the wombat was selling for £174.76. Hmm, curiouser and curiouser. His other piece, an ink drawing, was simply called Doodle, and would have kept any tattooist busy for hours. I must mention the local film programme which was showing simultaneously. I am unfortunately not an authority on film, or on art, for that matter, so I can't discuss the different techniques.

They used special effects: speeded up film, camera angles and the like. I can say I enjoyed Tinkerville, by Dave Priestman. It had fluffy sheep in it, I think, or perhaps I had at that point drunk too much complimentary wine. I also enjoyed the knotty piece For Sol, by Jemma Hutchins. It was one of those where manipulation by unseen hands is used to give life to an inanimate object; in this case a ball of string. This, I pondered, must be a very painstaking and time-consuming process, but it delivered a hypnotic series of images that I couldn't stop looking at.

I then had the pleasure of being introduced to John William Bates, of And this is K, Doctor fame, whose name I had overheard many times during the evening. He was carrying a video camera, and had been shooting scenes already that evening. I explained to him my role as a reviewer for.thisisull.com.

I gave him my last business card, which he pocketed. I stared deep into his rather attractive eyes and explained to him my lack of cameraman to take the shots for my article. To my surprise, he readily agreed to take some stills for me. He allowed me to walk him around the gallery space and point out all the shots I wanted. During this time, we talked a little about his arresting three-colour piece. He asked me what I thought the three colours symbolised. I paused for thought and replied television; red, green, blue, like the grains of a close-up image in a TV screen. The birth of digital photography, he said. Hmm, close, I thought.

He then went on to explain he was exploring negative feelings such as anger, loss and sadness through these images. I pressed him on the meaning of K in the title, and he replied that he had decided to keep that information hidden. Aah, the mysticism that pervades the artist and his strange world.

I have to say he really was a very engaging man, with good looks and a charming air. Many thanks to him, and to all those students and artists who worked tirelessly to make the Fusion experience a memorable one. It is a good feeling to know that the Hull art scene is alive and kicking, and challenging audiences at every opportunity. DJ Programme: Mat Hill and Euan Domloge from FUNKY DJ Smokescreen (Dave Cole) Cooking up a storm! DJ Defunct The art of turntablism Catch him at the Adelphi, April 2nd and May 22nd. Leano with Isaac, Mr Prez and Bomba www.concreterecords.co.uk Slippedisco Charity shop sin bin! Steve from Satisfaction and Grapevine For further information please contact: Fusioninhull@hotmail.com or John G.Bernasconi University of Hull Art Collection Hull HU6 7RX (01482) 465192

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