- Venue
- Multiple Locations
- Starts
- Friday, June 2, 2023
- Ends
- Sunday, June 4, 2023
- Address
- St James’s Church Piccadilly, W1J 9LL / Peckham Library Square, SE15 5JT / Hoxton Square, N1 6NU
- Location
- London
- Organiser
- UP Projects and London Gallery Weekend
UP Projects are delighted to once again be collaborating with London Gallery Weekend to present a programme of artist-led performances taking place during London Gallery Weekend 2023 (2-4 June). The performance programme offers an unparalleled opportunity for members of the public to freely experience site-specific performance artworks by some of the most exciting artists working today.
The three artists selected to perform this year are Nicole Bachmann, Li Hei Di and Minh Lan Tran. Each performance will be staged three times across the weekend: on Friday 2 June in Central London, on Saturday 3 June in South London and on Sunday 4 June in East London. This year, London Gallery Weekend and UP Projects are also working closely with arts organisation, Peckham Platform who will develop a special performance for the Saturday working closely with Southwark-based communities and artist, Lesley Asare.
Locations & Timings
2 June 2023 – 2.30PM – 3.45PM,
St James’s Church Piccadilly, London W1J 9LL | Nearest Underground: Piccadilly Circus and Green Park
- The Willow Tree by Li Hi Di
- not a centre, but a mesh by Nicole Bachmann
- Heat Generation (prayer) by Minh Lan Tran
3 June 2023 – 12PM – 2.30PM,
Peckham Library Square, London SE15 5JT | Nearest Overground / Rail: Peckham Rye Station
- The Willow Tree by Li Hi Di
- not a centre, but a mesh by Nicole Bachmann
- Heat Generation (prayer) by Minh Lan Tran
- Body Arcana (“Home-building”) by Lesley Asare + in conversation with Nephertiti Schandorf, Director, Peckham Platform
4 June 2023 – 12PM – 2PM,
Hoxton Square, London, N1 6NU | Nearest Underground: Old Street
- The Willow Tree by Li Hi Di
- not a centre, but a mesh by Nicole Bachmann
- Heat Generation (prayer) by Minh Lan Tran
- Artist Panel Discussion with Li Hi Di, Nicole Bachmann and Minh Lan Tran moderated by Bengi Ünsal, Director ICA
We encourage audiences to stay to experience the full line up – each performance lasts approximately 15-20 minutes. A limited number of audience seating will be available, so we encourage arriving early. All public locations are fully accessible.
About the Performances
Not a centre, but a mesh – Nicole Bachmann
Not a centre, but a mesh is a spoken word performance written, produced, and performed by Nicole Bachmann. It explores orality as a tool to pass on knowledge and create meaning, where the voice is the main carrier of information. Bachmann speaks about loss in the face of environmental destruction, social injustices and how we engage in new ways of being together, forming communities and networks to cherish and honour our dependencies of each other.
The Willow Tree – Li Hei Di
For The Willow Tree Li Hei Di is joined by three other performers: Qinging Liu, Erin Alles and Juicy Wang, all of whom wear custom-made funnels as hats, replete with many thin, transparent tubes that snake down from their heads and wrap around their bodies. Clad in these costumes, the performers move across stacks of rice paper with dry pigments hidden in between the layers. Liquid is funnelled into the hats, either poured by another of the performers or by placing water bags on the top and pricking them open with a long needle. As water travels through the funnel and into the tubes, it squirts in different directions, mixing with the pigments on the paper to create a self-determining composition.
Heat Generation (prayer) – Minh Lan Tran
The performance will be a collaboration between Minh Lan Tran and the choreographer Lena Hetzel. What will happen is the encounter of people, dancers, and fighters, taking part in the event as living archives. The choreography will be built on the performers’ response to the idea of violence, its infliction and interiorization as well as its transformation. The choreography will be built on the performers’ response to the tension and resistance between violence and grace.
Body Arcana (“Home-building”) – Lesley Asare
Body Arcana (“Home-building”) is a performance by Lesley Asare in collaboration with sound artist, Drew Sinclair and developed together with young people from the South London Refugee Association. The piece explores the slow and sacred practices we keep within our homes to nourish, adorn and heal ourselves and questions how we can collectively slow down to restore the earth. In preparation for this performance, Lesley collaborated with young people from the South London Refugee Association through a series of workshops in which they explored the sense of self and home to not only inform the development of the performance but to also create garments in which they dyed, mended and infused with intentions for the future.
