Sunday
SOMETHINGS I'VE SEEN IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS - Princess Julia
Princess Julia original Blitz Kid, legendary DJ, club princess extraordinaire - 50 and beautiful - style icon - co-publisher for music paper/fanzine The P.i.X - contributes to fashion website KCTV.co.uk - music editor for iD magazine
Monday
Kunstenfestivaldesarts 010
I am one of 30 young international producers selected for SPACE - Supporting Performing Arts Circulation in Europe organised by ONDA in Paris and supported by the European Commission.
One of the festivals I have attended this summer is the Kunstenfestival des Arts 010.
The Kunstenfestivaldesarts' audiences are keen followers of contemporary, inspiring and atypical artistic offerings. The range of artistic creations in the international programme - both from more established artists and still fairly unknown talents - awakened people's curiosity and generated debate.
A large number of new works saw the light at this year's festival, for the most part initiated and co-produced by the Kunstenfestivaldesarts, and many of them held wonderful surprises in store for their audiences. Highlights include the premiere of the new work by Germany's Christoph Schlingensief, which proved a revelation for many, as well as the provocative new project from the Hungarian Kornél Mundruczó. There were also excellent creations from Belgian artists this year, such as Inne Goris, Etienne Guilloteau, Sarah Vanagt and Claude Schmitz: projects that have often allowed them to assert their artistic language and introduce it to a wider audience.
This 010 festival was also an opportunity for opening up reflection on the city and the people who live there, through artistic projects by Lotte van den Berg, Sarah Vanagt and ZimmerFrei for example, but also in a series of initiatives such as workshops, debates and a travelling theatre for children (the Kamishibai project) which have taken the festival to people who do not normally access the city's cultural offerings.
My personal highlight was in the form of Lotte van den Berg's piece - Het verdwalen in kaart
Dutch director Lotte founded OMSK when she moved to Dordrecht and set herself up in the Energiehuis. In order to get to know the city and its inhabitants, she invited them to create a show. A total of 72 residents, young and old, accepted her invitation, and Het verdwalen in kaart is the generous result. The sense of belonging, of individuality and of knowing oneself secure in a group is the red thread running through the silent performance. Lotte uses powerful, silently fading images to suggest extremes of joy and distress.
It is moving and extraordinary while being perfectly ordinary. A simple act of creating and destroying, doing & undoing. A gentle nudge to the edge of your seat, while all the time the very question of belonging is challenged again and again.
My new favourite online shop - needsupply
This online store seems to have more then enough delightful items to keep me interested, good sale on too. Worth flicking through - click on title above for link - bookmarked
My new favourite shop - Tokyo Bike
Tokyo Bike has a new pop up shop at Spitalfields Market - the shop & the bikes are just super pleasing to the eye, with minimal design aesthetics applied to both the bikes and the shop...it makes you just want to indulge in the cr-mo steel framed bikes, in block colours with tan leather seats, straight handlebars and 650mm wheels.
They look good - check them out -
They look good - check them out -
Sunday
SOME THINGS I'VE SEEN IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS - Best Before by Rimini Protokoll
Cork Mid Summer Festival was a great success bringing together a combination of commissioned and programmed work, there was a strawberry ripple of international companies through a programme of homegrown work. I was only there for two days each of the weekends, so I missed other festival highlights like Jérôme Bel and Mike Daisy.
But I had my own two highlights, the first of which was Rimini Prokoll’s, Best Before.
I am a fan of their work ordinarily and this show was no let down.
Best Before pulls the multi-player video game out of the virtual realm and plugs it into an intimate theatre setting. Each audience member navigates an anonymous avatar, interacting with a panel of on-stage experts – an electronic artist, a game tester, a lobbyist and a traffic flagger. A simulated city, Best-Land, gradually develops as each audience member adds their personal touch with game controller in hand. Taking its inspiration from Vancouver’s gaming industry, Best Land evolves and devolves as the audience clashes and collaborates while making personal, social and political decisions.
The show, decisions and outcomes percolated through my brain for many a day after.
Next up was Superflex – Check them out – Click link below
SUPERFLEX is a Danish art collective, founded in 1993 whose interventionist practice deals with economic markets, power structures, self-organisation and environmentalism. They understand their artistic practice as a set of tools, or as an invitation to positive action and participation rather than in terms of discrete works of art. Viewers often become co-producers, shifting the focus away from objects to relationships where the artworks can be redefined and modified by users.
More recently Superflex have been working with legal contracts, challenging public and private copyright laws which led to complex legal negotiations. By investigating the function of a contract, Superflex has created new works that are statements and proposals and can be understood as political acts redefining particular contexts and situations.
SOME THINGS I'VE SEEN IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS - STK
World Cup Final at Stoke Newington International Airport was a
The flurry and excitement of the match was accentuated by the twirling ‘loading’ sign of the internet connection swirling around trying desperately to keep up with the pace of play.
None the less it was a split crowd and when Spain rose to victory there was a modest celebration and a mass exodus of Holland fans. But I was very happy, I was delighted to see Spain win and I thought of all my lovely Spanish friends celebrating with much joy.
SOME THINGS I'VE SEEN IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS - After the Dance
First staged in 1939, After the Dance by Terence Rattigan offers a subtle, witty unmasking of the hedonistic 20s generation and a devastating study of repression and the human heart. Directed by Thea Sharrock this is an exquisite production, with impeccable detail and application of ideas. Benedict Cumberbatch plays David Scott-Fowler so wonderfully.
There was a point in the 3rd hour of the show that I thought to myself – I haven’t for one second questioned anything I have seen, utterly convincing and brilliantly done.
Stunning!
National Theatre, Lyttelton Theatre on until 11th Aug
Saturday
SOME THINGS I'VE SEEN IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS - starting with this
Ok so here is the deal ACT ART 8 - Censored included 100 Artists two of which were the wonderful Mr.Shaw and Mr.Schnabl.
Alex Shaw's film Jeannie Dee - The Pensioner Tranny DJ was a roaring success, beautifully shot with a dark hint of contemplation. Martin was a ball of fire locked away in an intimate space where he performed as the Human Jukebox, mixing up live songs with humour and serious vocals.
The night overall was a mish mash of the brilliant to the not so great, but the highlights for SURE were Scottee and Johnny Woo…brilliant, talented, political and down right trashy.
Tuesday
Friday
Project Brand New is a go with GENERATION
In conceiving Generation there were a number of thoughts that went through the PBN/Bealtaine heads. For me the term ‘generation’ is not always related to age or number of years (although this could very well be the formal definition) it is not about categories, brackets, boxes, confinements, restrictions, parameters or such things but instead I see it as different ‘movements’.
As mentioned by Dominic terms like ‘emerging artist’ are unrelated to age but instead it pertains to an artist’s personal development and transition into a professional field. Also this draws the question, how long can an artist be emerging for? Some artists/companies spend 20-30years emerging while others propel to large scale work very early in their careers. It is also important to remember that emergent and established artists although are at the hands of the cultural ecology in which they emerge, they also often make conscious decisions about where they would like to position themselves. Some companies remain in an emerging arena for specific reasons and avoid entering into the world of funding applications etc. Perhaps this area/fringe/margin allows for more innovation, change and reinvention.
But for me generation is looking at movements in creative histories; shifts and changes in methodologies, trends, ideas, inspirations, platforms, education systems, audiences etc
An artist of young age could work in a very traditional model and an artist of older age could work through new forms, this to me makes them artists of different generations irrespective of their age. If they come together to make a piece of work they are making a piece of intergenerational work. Likewise artists both with the same age could both come from very different schools of thought and therefore create an intergenerational piece.
This allows for great fluidity and opens up the possibility for generational shifts, change and innovation. An artist can navigate through the generational paths.
Often people who are not of my generation comment freely about my generation. Oh your generation is so …… (insert any adjective) Mostly these statements are complimentary, conjured from a sense of lost time or from frustrations of political confinements that have existed or an enviable desire to get to a place where your generation is renowned for something. But do I belong to one? Wouldn’t it be more exciting to be part of a movement, a shift, an alteration, a development, a progression…And wouldn’t it be even more exciting that as I get older I can be part of newer movements, shift and alterations, in other words wouldn’t it be great if I could be part of a different generation?
When do we become fixed in our generation, is it a question of risk? Perhaps being fixed about how things are done, or how they should be done are the paths that lead to an artist being fixed in their generation? Maybe curiosity, interrogation, imagination, foresight and falling in love with ideas are the things that keep us fluid amongst generations. Making links to discover how existing forms, models and movements can relate to ones not yet conceived while believing that what has gone before informs the future. Having a good idea is not always the key to making good theatre, sometimes it is about letting go of a good idea and therefore making room for other ones. If an artist has a really good idea another one will be along shortly.
It is at this point that I must commend the 15 artists in Generation. They have each taken a bold risk by firstly putting themselves up for this week and they have continued to take, make and break risks all week. They have had countless good ideas that they have simply needed to let go of in order to collaborate and move forward. Each of the artists has experienced the nightmare of being locked in a room with two other artists for one week in order to make a piece of theatre in 5 days. They have taken the challenge of negotiating new territory and they are driving a very clear path towards the Project Arts Centre, Sat night 8pm.
Likewise Project Brand New is proud to have collaborated with Bealtaine, to have asked questions, set challenges and interrogated the possibilities. Once again we are falling in love with ideas.
Wednesday
Monday
Sunday
2 DIVIDE - BRUNO HUMBERTO
Extraordinary performance piece 2 Divide, a physical theatre performance about bipolarity. This piece examines the juxtaposition of mental states resulting in a fierce and touching glance at the relationship between two men; men of war, brothers, lovers, father and son, one man - we do not know but we are sure they are two halves of one complete motion.
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