I am in Seattle, spending a month on the motherland's soil, doing some PhD work. This Wednesday, I'm meeting with Sojourn Theatre to discuss their work which uses community dialogue as its nexus.
In related news, I met with Sandy and Chris of Theatre Melange in July, to discuss their recent work 'The ECHO Project' which built a devised piece of multi-media theatre out of 6 months of community-based interviews and workshops.
Both companies - Sojourn and Melange - expemplify the ethos of this kind of work: community-centred, humble, progressive, tireless, and maintaining that rigorous aesthetic which sets them apart from other less successful artists.
I am honoured to be able to spend time with them.
What a great job.
Showing posts with label dialogue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dialogue. Show all posts
Work continues...
On Wednesday and Friday of last week, two groups of young people from the Torbay area came down to the Torre Abbey Green and painted 'their Torbay' onto the public art wall. Accompanied by some amazing youth workers (thanks Alanna, Dave and Gemma!) and full of enthusiasm, they have made this project into something really special.
Some of the pieces have light touch - depictions of football players and of the balloon rising up over the English Riviera. There's a painting of a fisherman catching line-caught bass. There's a piece which appears to be a picture-postcard of the Riviera, but when you look closely into the palm tree, you can see that words like 'teenage pregnancy' and 'stereotypes' are written on the leaves. There's a picture of a human form, and inside of it is music. That's 'their Torbay'.
Extended Cloister on Torre Abbey Green
All this week... workshops with young people from Hele Village and Torquay. Where are the news stories about this?
How can a paper print two weeks worth of negative press, and put out a call for local artists to be utilised and then disrespectfully ignore those same hard-working local artists when they are out doing good work? It's always easier to whinge than it is to walk your talk...
Or praise good work.
I say - well done. Well done to the youth centres, to the mural artists, to all who have been involved from the council, to all who's creative and open minds make public art like this possible. That's the article that should have been written.
What's that Toni Morrison quote?
"If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."
— Toni Morrison
a response
The Mayor, Nick Bye, speaks.
'Our talented (and very small) team who work to promote art and culture in Torbay are really trying to wake everybody up, get us thinking and enrich our lives. Their mission is to provide us with diverse opportunities and make the most of what is already here, under our noses.
There is method in their madness.'
See the article.
Here's to a vigorous public dialogue. Thank you, Noisemaking event!
'Our talented (and very small) team who work to promote art and culture in Torbay are really trying to wake everybody up, get us thinking and enrich our lives. Their mission is to provide us with diverse opportunities and make the most of what is already here, under our noses.
There is method in their madness.'
See the article.
Here's to a vigorous public dialogue. Thank you, Noisemaking event!
Public Art
The Torbay Connected Noisemaking Event has come and gone... and wowzers, did it make some noise! Three negative newspaper articles (I won't bother to link to them, just google it if you're interested), public debate, dialogue and a resulting 48-hour durational public art installation that was, quite simply,
amazing.
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