Tag: theatre & performance
Atonement
In total, 46 pages of text were produced by typewriter, including 1921 resolutions beginning with “I will not”.
Every 15 minutes throughout the 24hrs, a photograph was taken of the workspace.
Actions from the Afterlife
“Rhiannon created an interactive piece that asked participants sat around a table to perform actions on behalf of others in the audience. It represented the commemorative rituals we do for those who have died, and argues that it is those actions that make up their afterlife. This provided a jumping off point to explore how we do things for and on behalf of others as part of our online life, of private grief vs public ritual, and, crucially, who profits from digital acts of remembrance.” – Robin Kwong, head of digital delivery at the Financial Times
Actions from the Afterlife was a work in progress performance shared as part of the Contemporary Narratives Lab: an initiative by the Financial Times, Queen Mary University and People’s Palace Projects to explore the impact of creative partnerships between artists and journalists. It was presented at Battersea Arts Centre on 29 June 2018, alongside work by They Are Here, Coney, Conrad Murray, and Paula Varjack.
related projects
Anchored
The Lullaby Directory
Atonement
Anchored
a performance lecture about class, witnessing, and who gets left out of “history”
“I think you are astutely funny on stage, but what I really enjoy is how you make it ok for us to go deeply into something serious, long enough to be thoughtful and reflecting and thankful, actually.” – Dr. Simon Bowes, commissioner.
Anchored was initially made for the conference ‘Hold Everything Dear: John Berger and performance’ at the University of Greenwich in April 2018.
We are performance makers: we are looking ever closer at the detail of where we are now so that we may lose our bearings.
“Surrounded by so many abstractions, they have to invent and share their own transient landmarks.”
We hope to come back, to find ourselves elsewhere.
This performance meditates on achorlessness across three threads:
- performative writing gathered around autobiographical reflections on place and silence
- field recordings and lullabies from Alan Lomax’s archive
- footage of everyday materials magnified by a factor of 400
Text, song and image weave together exploring what remains when we lose our anchors of place and time.
related projects
Actions from the Afterlife
The Lullaby Directory
Poems Made from Words Found in the Bin
The International Archive of Things Left Unsaid
The International Archive of Things Left Unsaid collects unspoken words of love and pain from members of the public, and arranges for them to be listened to.
“creates a different kind of approach to most confessional material emphasising empathy rather than sensationalism” – Lyn Gardner, The Guardian
The International Archive of Things Left Unsaid is an evolving collection of anonymous testimonies donated by members of the public responding to the question “think of a time when you wanted to say something to someone, but didn’t”.
It is a treasure trove of real life intimate testimonies, delivered with special care to honour the emotions expressed and preserve the anonymity of the people involved.
“a dichotomy of personal encounter and observational distance […] beautifully achieved” Caroline Darke, Artvehicle
“a simplicity and focus of care that is absolutely astounding” – Griffin Gilligan, blogger
“small moments of defiance that are also celebrations” – Jane Frances Dunlop, Exeunt Magazine
The Archive was established in 2006 in response to a provocation by curator Ali MacGilp to create a performance for an exhibition entitled ‘There’s Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You’, at Space Station Sixty-Five in London. This one-to-one performance grew and now exists in multiple forms:
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- an installation and one-to-one performance that has toured nationally and internationally
- a web-based work at www.unsaidarchive.com (The Space’s inaugural commission for a web-based performance)
- an interactive textile
This project is regularly remade for different contexts including at HMP Feltham Young Offender’s Institute, East Bergholt High School, for Haringey Advisory Group on Alcohol, and at various galleries including W139 in Amsterdam, Barbican Gallery, ALMA Enterprises, Propeller Island, Space Station Sixty-Five, Battersea Arts Centre, Pulse Ipswich, SLAP Yorkshire.
+ more about the one-to-one performance
Everything You Ever Wanted to Say But Didn’t – Part 1 is a one-to-one performance lasting up to 10mins and takes the form of a verbatim delivery of some of the testimonies from The International Archive of Things Left Unsaid.
Audience members are told about the Archive and given an allocated ticket number which determines which testimony they will receive.
This performance is usually presented with a site-responsive installation to enable participants to contribute their own testimony to the archive.
+ more about www.unsaidarchive.com
The online version of the work was commissioned by Battersea Arts Centre and The Space CIC in 2015.
Each testimony is performed verbatim, and includes binaural beat technology to induce calming brainwaves in the listener. Visitors may browse the Public Index, choose a testimony to listen to, and are then invited to contribute their own. A text-only version is available for those who do not use headphones, and anonymity is guaranteed.
Created by Rhiannon Armstrong
Designed by MOTHandRUST
Construct by Halo and Rob Grundel
+ more about the work in non-arts settings
The Archive has been presented in a number of community contexts as a catalyst piece to stimulate communication and discussion, in particular amongst teenagers and at risk young people; at HMP Feltham Young Offenders Institute, in schools including Crossways Sixth form and East Bergholt High School, and for Haringey Advisory Group on Alcohol who commissioned a new version Called VIP Room.
In 2016 the online work toured as an interactive textile to shopping centres, cafes and park benches in towns across England.
The Archive has also been presented in workplaces including at SHM Productions in London:
“It created conversations. It created conversations about conversations. It created conversations about things we leave unsaid with our clients. It created conversations about regret.
It created a number of conversations which if we had tried to define them beforehand, we would not have had that result. We got a fantastic result that we couldn’t have predicted.”
Maurice Biriotti, CEO SHM Productions.
+ more about the textile work
In 2016 Rhiannon created a quilt as a physical interface with the web piece, with help from Significant Seams, a Walthamstow-based CIC working with craft as a means of combatting social isolation.
The quilt is made from everyday fabrics such as curtains, jeans, and suit material, and hand embroidered with extracts from the testimonies in the Archive.
In autumn 2016 the quilt toured as part of the Collaborative Touring Network, as a way of bringing unsaidarchive.com to a diverse range of audiences across the UK. Among other places it was installed in a leisure centre in Darlington, an arts centre in Wigan, a cafe in Gillingham, a shopping centre in Gloucester, and a supermarket in Peterborough.
performance at SLAP in York
GIF created for the launch of web work
performance at W139, Amsterdam
quilt on tour in Darlington
performance and installation at W139, Amsterdam
quilt on show at Battersea Arts Centre
performance at Shunt Vaults, London
performance at Shunt Vaults, London
related projects
Poems Made from Words Found in the Bin
The Slow GIF Movement
The Lullaby Directory
The Lullaby Directory
An exploration of the history of lullabies, their beauty, and darkness: The Lullaby Directory explores the human need to be held, and how we use song to hold ourselves against the unpredictability of existence.
“Rhiannon Armstrong can sing […] the most luscious of anti-capitalist protest songs” Megan Vaughan
“mesmerisingly beautiful songs” Clare Qualmann, audience member
The project began with an invitation to make a performance that would take place in complete darkness.
Rhiannon performs versions of lullabies from around the world, drawing on extensive research from publications and recording archives.
The Lullaby Directory explores in particular those lullabies that express a wish to harm the baby, touch as part of the listening experience, and uses bespoke amplification techniques that turn singing into highly responsive vibrations.
The Lullaby Directory has been shown as:
- a multi-sensory performance taking place in total darkness at Battersea Arts Centre
- a site-specific choral performance at Wellcome Collection Reading Room
- a theatre performance incorporating science fiction writing at The Yard Theatre