Performative Architectures

Transcription

1 Performative Architectures architecture/public space & performance/live art network project across the UK, Germany and beyond

2 Project documentation Extract of the notes taken during the Performative Architectures Discussion at the Showroom, London PERFORMATIVE ARCHITECTURES Ongoing research project since 2011 Performative Architectures is a research project by Helen Stratford and Diana Wesser. The project aims to open up possibilities for exchange, dialogues, extend existing networks and develop new practice directions. Kindly supported by Arts Council England and part of the Live Art Escalator programme, the project has funding to make links / build networks with artists working between architecture and performativity to explore alternate practices in public space. It was recently the subject of a discussion event to explore performativity within social, participatory and critical spatial practices. hosted by the Showroom, London with Emily Pethick, Doina, Kathrin Böhm and Jane Rendell. One of the current outcomes is a DIY leaflet which evolved out of the discussion and was launched at Wysing Arts Centre Department of Overlooked Histories event on the 12 th November 2011.

3 Performative Architectures STEP 1: research & development in the UK Blind Spots Performative research, walk and lecture video. Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester (UK), 2008 We invited the audience to join a child s play on the waterless fountain. 1.) URBAN (COL)LABORATORY We are Helen Stratford, English architect and critical writer based in Cambridgeshire and Diana Wesser, German media and performance artist based in Leipzig. We have been collaborating on a regular basis since 2005 as urban (col)laboratory whose art practice is rooted in performative practice. Located between architecture, visual art, writing and performance, our practice uses live art in the form of socially-engaged processes to engage with buildings and public space. We use process-led research to engage with and make visible different spatial perceptions and ways of constructing knowledge about place. Often focusing on those who are simultaneously peripheral yet central to their production, or work explores the way we perceive and experience our surroundings through conventions and categories, considers how buildings and public spaces are produced, performed and how they figure in broader urban, rural and cultural landscapes. To date, outcomes of this interdisciplinary collaboration include public art projects, performative walks, exhibitions, spatial and audio interventions, lectures and discussions, published papers, films, artist s books and articles in architectural/art journals, presented at local, national and international events. (see documentation provided) Over recent years our collective and individual practices have started to gain recognition from a number of regional, national and international visual and performing arts institutions and organisations. This has enabled us to forge links and networks with people working in live art and socially-engaged approaches to public space in London, Leipzig, Berlin and beyond. Most recently we have been selected to participate in Performance Studies International (PSi) for PSi#17 Utrecht Camillo 2.0 Technology, Memory, Experience (

4 Performative architectures Fissures in the harbour of knowledge Performative walk and talk. Ruhr Universität Bochum, ) PERFORMATIVE ARCHITECTURES Our work is collaborative, working with other artists, curators, publics and places. It is these performative and socially-engaged aspects of our practice we would like to research through the Performative Architectures project through visiting other artists working in socially-engaged projects that sit between concepts of architecture, public space and performance. Through our practice, we have become aware of growing numbers of people/groups working between the fields of visual art, architecture and performance. While these practices exist, initial searches indicate little extended research and specific networks available. We see Performative Architectures as a starting point in facilitating links/exchanges between artists working in this way. The project is divided in three steps. Step 1: research & development in the UK, Step 2: extending the network to Germany, Step 3: international practices. The current proposed activity is for step 1, a 6-month period of research & development in the UK. This step structured in three phases: 1. research, 2. exchange and 3. critical reflection and will partly take place in the frame of an invited live/work residency at Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridgeshire, UK ( org). The overall focus is to research ways we might develop our UK network in the context of Performative Architectures, with the following aims. First, to visit other artists, allowing us to critically reflect on how our practice and the Performative Architectures network might be positioned in relation to other collaborative, live art, public-realm based and socially-engaged projects that work between concepts of architecture and performance. Second, the project will aim to expand the range of potential collaborators thus increasing the opportunities to develop new directions in our practice. Third, the project will offer important benefits for others through opening up future possibilities for exchange and dialogues that will build on our research offering the potential to establish future connections, networks and collaborations, support structures and links for and between others working in this way.

5 Performative architectures home is where the piano is How can you feel at home in Orchard Park Participatory project and Performative interventions, Cambridge, MAKING IT HAPPEN: research exchange critical reflection in more detail. 1. Research: gaining a broader understanding of where our work sits in relation to contemporary performance/live art practice in the UK through identifying artists and places to visit, literature to read and networks to access in order to identify research questions in relation to our own practice development and exploring opportunities and dialogues between performance-based work in galleries and public space. Confirmed UK contacts include the showroom ( where we will host a talk/discussion event in the Autumn with urban tactics from Sheffield University ( We have also contacted artists French Mottershead ( Townley and Bradby, Emma Smith and Heike Roms and artist group random people at Aberystwyth Centre for Performance Research ( Contacts to follow up include RADAR: Loughborough University s contemporary arts programme ( lboro.ac.uk/radar), Trampoline platform for new media art ( Grisedale Arts (www. grizedale.org), gas works ( and CUBE Manchester ( where we were selected artists for CUBE Open We also plan to visit and make connections with artist Duncan Speakman and Situations in Bristol while also strengthening existing links with artists such as Emma Hedditch. In London we would like to arrange meetings with Artsadmin, ( Live Art Development Agency (www. thisisliveart.co.uk) and new Work network ( org.uk) to talk about our work in relation to Live Art, the Architecture Foundation ( to discuss our work in relation to architecture/art practice; and visit London-based artists Public Works ( and Pope and Guthrie (somewhere.org.uk). Initial ideas for the second step of the project, extending the network project to Germany include Raumlabor, Berlin ( Program e.v., Berlin ( HafenCity University Hamburg, ( Open Urban Institute, Frankfurt am Main (openurbaninstitute.org), Boris Sieverts, Büro für Städtereisen, Köln ( LIGNA, Hamburg ( urban research institut, Nürnberg ( raumtaktik office from a better future, (Hamburg), Homebase V Project, Berlin ( die urbanauten, München ( arttours, Stuttgart ( treacle, Stuttgart (

6 Performative architectures Fissures in the harbour of knowledge Performative walk and talk, Ruhr Universität Bochum, Exchange: meeting artists in the UK, peer group networking meetings, one-on-one surgeries, mentoring and critical support. We propose to invite people to Wysing Arts Centre to participate in a laboratory, offering a number of workshops discussions and presentation/screenings. Researching work that explores the following key questions: How are power structures manifest through the built environment? What are the relations between movement in public space and architecture? How are the current culture of fear and the German angst manifest in streets, buildings and actions? What kinds of resistance practices exist in live art? What is the momentary consensus in performance/live art practice if any? 3. Outcomes and Critical Reflection: we will develop a website and blog to act as an exchange/reference point throughout the process. This stage of the project will use critical input from mentoring and support to begin to reflect on possible training required and explore research questions. During the project three public talks will been programmed at Performance, Art and Architectural venues, each engaging with very different publics. Confirmed talks include Performance Studies International conference, PSi#17, Camillo, Utrecht, linked to theatre festival: Festival a/d Werf (NL), and Wysing Arts Centre. The architectural venue is to be confirmed - initial ideas include Architectural Centres CUBE: Manchester or Shape East and strengthening existing links with architecture/art practice Public Works through presenting at their Friday Session, public talks programme. The third phase of this initial step of Performative Architectures will also start to develop ideas for projects that critically build on research asking how we can push our practice and what can our work bring that extends and develops thinking and practice concerning contemporary performance/live art practice in relation to site specific work and public space. For example extending the network project to German and other international practices, a larger live art based event in 2012, a symposium or a weekend with talks, presentations and live performances. Using theory to be inspired and using practice to learn something theoretically, the outcome of which could be a publication or exhibition.

7 The Residency & Time frame practising wysing: 10 ways to misuse a building 10 choreographic instructions to adapt a gallery, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge THE RESIDENCY Helen is a studio artist at Wysing Arts Centre. She has been part of the community of artists there since 2009 when she was selected for a 6-month residency in on their Communities under Construction residency, this was immediately followed by a successful competitive application to be a studio artist. Diana has been invited by Wysing Arts Centre for a self-funded residency in Wysings s live/work studio, which they offer artists alongside other funded residency programmes. We propose to use this time for an intensive 2- month research and project development period during Autumn 2011, to strengthen and extend the networks in which we work in order to develop new directions in our practice. Wysing have also offered curatorial support during Diana s time at the Centre. 4. TIME FRAME first step: research & development in the UK 12-months between May 2011 and May 2012