Dot and I performed our piece "Species of Spaces" at the Late Shift (SCVA) last night. We both thought it went really well, and discussed how neither of us had ever had a repeatable 'performance' before. It seems we still find the subject matter and approach in the piece sufficiently interesting to apply it to new locations and create fresh versions. This one was very different to the under-the-stage NAC one, because the room was very white and clean, and it had a wonderful semi-opaque wall of glass screening the storage area from the rest of the room. We crawled around behind the glass, and the shadows cast by our torches lit up the wall with silhouettes. It emphasized the micro/macro play on scale that runs throughout the piece. I am certain there will be a 'next time', and I'm excited about the possibilities of spaces it could explore.
Last Saturday we successfully hosted an informal platform event at Norwich Arts Centre. It was an opportunity for some of our collective to try out performances to a small audience, and then discuss the outcomes afterwards.
Rebecca Wigmore opened, with a spoken piece about cellulite, followed by Michael Ridge experimenting with pressing his face against contact-miked glass, and then Dot and I did a new version of our piece. It's now called 'Species of Spaces' due to the slightly creature-like properties the objects acquire. For this version we explored the space under the NAC stage, crawling through girders and emerging, dust covered, in front of the audience.
We had a good audience (at least 20, which was brilliant considering we hadn't advertised it as a public event), and 5 stayed for the feedback discussion afterwards. I think all the artists found this a very useful exercise, and it is one we will be repeating in the near future.
In the meantime, Dot and I are performing at The Late Shift at Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, on Wednesday 17th December 5-8pm, so come along if you are in Norwich.
