First outing on Saturday night – there was quite a sense of anticipation – the start of something exciting! The Dome at Brighton was buzzing… in fact Brighton generally was buzzing with post-children’s parade and pre-gig excitement in the early evening sunshine.
Hundreds of people arrived in the Dome bar for pre-performance drinks before a concert by the London Symphony Orchestra, or, as in our case, before an eagerly awaited performance by the Charles Linehan Company at the Corn Exchange.
The evening included three items – a short film, a pilot for a new work in collaboration with artist Karolis Janulis, known for his photographs shot from drones; a performance by BalletBoyz William Trevitt and Michael Nunn with a comic twist and new work by Charles Linehan, A Quarter Plus Green.
Sadly, earlier excitement wasn’t fully rewarded. We emerged at the end not quite knowing what to think – “puzzled” was the most commonly used adjective, and “opaque” another favourite. I, as complete dance ignoramus assumed that I’d missed something important… didn’t understand the language… but maybe I’m being a bit hard on myself. On the train on the way home, I read an article by Sanjoyroy profiling Charles Linehan and discovered that he is know as a choreographer whose work is “too distilled and unflashy for popular appeal”. Aah… perhaps I’m excused then. http://sanjoyroy.net/2001/10/profile-charles-linehan/
The most memorable part of the evening for me was the little film with its playful compositions of wandering, running, jumping, somersaulting shadows filmed from high above, like little insect figures with bits of rag tied to their feet. It reminded me of this work by Anne-Marie Creamer in a funny sort of way.
Meeting the Pied Piper in Brasov
Karolis Janulis drone photography in The Telegraph
NEXT… Meet outside Natwest Bank at 8.30pm…
In March I came to the end of a two year project, The New Immortals, which had culminated in an exhibition which I curated and in which I showed new work along with nine other artists. This marked the end of a period of intense activity during which I had managed to think about little else. With a determination to pause and take stock, I crossed through my diary to allow myself a cooling off period, time to catch up with neglected work, home and family, time to take stock and think about what to do next rather than rush straight in to something new. Just at that moment when the ink was drying on the lines through the empty diary pages, came the opportunity to apply for the Brighton Festival Collidescope residency – an amazing opportunity to spend time with artists from across a range of disciplines (I’m the only visual artist) and, as the brief said, engage “intensively” with the Festival.
Last night we had our introductory meeting. There are nine of us artists plus two facilitators, dramaturg Lou Cope and Greenhouse Project Manager, Richard Kingdom. Together, between now and 29th May, we’re going to spend a good deal of our waking hours watching, listening, taking part in and talking about almost 40 Brighton Festival events from site specific theatre to a debate about Brexit, from Lou Reed’s “Drones” to Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Brighton Festival Chorus performing ” The Dream of Gerontius”. One of the most exciting things for me is the prospect of going to so many events which I have not chosen for myself – the opportunity for chance encounters, new experiences.
As well as going to the events, we’ll be meeting twice a week as a group to reflect on our experiences, to talk about our own work and… to see what might happen. There is no requirement for an “outcome” – this purely developmental process is completely open, allowing for exchange of knowledge an ideas – the perfect breeding ground for new collaborations, new partnerships and new ideas.
As Lou said, this is a process that will change us. It is intense, probably exhausting and maybe a bit daunting. But is going to be quite an adventure.
