Encounters

A series of brief encounters

2009-05-28T07:23:00.000-07:00

A director who has come for one of the networking events at the festival. He is interested in meeting writers to collaborate with as he's looking for his next project. He's also an actor and would be interested in working on other people's projects.

A man who has come to see his friend's film screening a bit later.

A trumpeter who's performing in one of the pieces showing a little later in the day. The others in his group are setting up.

A film-maker who's film is included in the showcase of films.

A man who's daughter is a member of a theatre company that has produced a site-responsive guided individual theatre experience for the festival. He is waiting for his turn to participate in the production. He makes the comment he thinks people don't just want to be entertained anymore, they want to be challenged and engaged.

Being attentive to small things

2009-05-28T07:05:00.001-07:00

A young woman is shown to the table where I'm sitting - she has come in search of the Encounters project - she's read about it in the programme and is curious. It's after the time I officially finish, but I'm still there so am happy to chat for a little while. She's glad and says she wants to go and get her friend - will I wait? Yes.

A couple of minutes later she's back with her friend. They are both arts students. Having completed some of their studies already, both will be starting new courses at the beginning of the next academic year.

They're at the festival because one of their friends is involved with its organisation.

We discuss the Encounters project, how it's been unfolding. They're particularly interested in the idea of 'mapping conversations', and how it may be possible to approach this. This is something I've been experimenting with intermittently, in a very lo-fi way. I say I don't pretend to be an expert on this or claim to have a formula for it - I'm trying things out and seeing how and whether it works, and am interested in other people's responses.

We move across to the mapping and discuss it for a while. There's a reference to Happenings included. One of the students is particularly interested in Happenings. She's also interested in small things that just happen - and in ways of paying attention to these small things. We discuss the idea of art as an act of making special. She wonders out loud what it would be like if lots of people were attentive to small things, moments, interactions - and made the effort to acknowledge and appreciate these small things.

Their friend comes across - she's on a break now. We say our goodbyes.

One thing leads to another

2009-05-28T06:58:00.000-07:00

I'm chatting with a woman, she mentions that she gave a talk about alternate reality gaming at the Roundhouse a little while ago. I ask how she came to be involved with alternate reality gaming. Originally she responded to an ad in Time Out which asked 'do you want to go on an adventure?'. Through her participation in the game, she was invited to be involved with other projects. One opportunity led to another, eventually leading to a job working for an alternate reality gaming company.

She said, when we leave uni, we don't really know what we want to do, but if you follow your interests, it eventually leads to something you enjoy.

It's all networks

2009-05-28T06:55:00.001-07:00

Two people who are interested in theatre and performance... they often help out, in various ways, with theatre productions. Through doing this, they make new connections, are offered free entry to other productions, and are offered further work, and so on.... 'it's all networks'.

Networks

2009-05-28T06:48:00.000-07:00

The mother of a student at Central... She is looking at the conversation mapping I've started. I ask if she'd be interested to hear a little about it. She is. I talk about some of the ideas behind it. She says she can relate to the ideas about networks as extending back in time. She runs her own business - in marketing and PR. She can think of several people in the past who have, and continue to, influence her in her working life. Networks are very important in her line of business.

A Language Lesson

2009-05-28T06:38:00.000-07:00

In exchange for £1, I am offered a 10 minute Spanish lesson. My instructor speaks a little English, my Spanish is very limited. How much ground can we cover in 10 minutes?

We exchange pleasantries, discuss what city we're originally from, where we live now, for how long, our respective jobs, and a few other other bits and pieces.

Using a combination of both languages - spoken and written - along with drawing and a mutual openness to seeing what is possible, we manage to negotiate a surprisingly diverse range of topics, and to (seemingly) reach an understanding about what each of us is trying to say to the other.... and it was fun!

The magic of puppetry

2009-05-26T05:06:00.000-07:00

I speak with a student who is studying performance arts at the Central School of Speech and Drama. One of the new discoveries she’s made since starting at Central is puppetry - she’s really by its possibilities.

Two theatre companies producing puppetry that she particularly admires are Blind Summit and Faulty Optic. Both companies are based in London.

She was very excited recently to find that her class was being taught by Sarah Wright of Faulty Optic. It turns out that Sarah’s brother is Joe Wright, director of the film Atonement. She thinks Atonement is a visually stunning film. An additional connection – without realising it, she’d been working for the mother of Sarah and Joe, at the Little Angel Theatre. She learnt from Joe's mother that his background in puppetry has directly influenced his approach to film directing.

She’d really like to be able to take her parents to see some puppetry of the type that excites her. Whenever she discusses it with her parents they can only relate to one of two types of puppetry – traditional (South East) Asian puppetry or puppetry in the style of Sesame Street.

For her, puppetry has a magical quality, that can’t be translated into language – it has to be experienced. She is looking forward to learning more about the medium and maybe even to revealing a little of its magic in her own work.

Experiences and exchanges

2009-05-26T04:46:00.000-07:00

A discussion with a member of the team organising the festival… she has many and varied interests… writing, new writing – creating it and seeing it.

She has started a theatre company with one of her colleagues at Central.

She is particularly interested in one-to-one exchanges – performance that isn’t necessarily theatre.

Their theatre company will be performing at the Glastonbury Festival and at a festival in Lithuania. They’ll have a tent set-up. There are six characters and people come into the tent and have an experience with one of the characters.

Through the theatre company, they have also been developing a series of exchanges where a group of people collaborate to produce a final outcome, each contributing something based on what the previous person has contributed. Each collaborator sees only what was contributed by the previous person.

Experiences and exchanges... a recurring theme throughout the festival.

Industry Interconnections

2009-05-24T01:56:00.000-07:00

A discussion amongst a few people about experiences of interconnectedness of people in the performance and theatre industry in London.

It was commented that this is a real advantage of being a performance student in London - access to such a diverse array of people, theatre companies and experiences.

Interaction with one company or organisation leads to connections with people working with other organisations, leading to new opportunities and experiences... and the process of making connections continues.

A Memorable Experience

2009-05-24T01:38:00.000-07:00

I am invited into a small white tent-like space, within a small room.

There are two chairs inside. One has a piece of paper on it.

Sharon Baker, my host invites me to pick up the piece of paper and peruse the ‘menu’, and to take a seat.

The menu is a list of short phrases – titles – sorted by categories. It is a list of stories – life changing, happy, sad, and so on.

I make a selection from the list of life-changing stories.

Sharon is sitting directly opposite me, a little over a metre away. She has on a set of headphones plugged into a small audio playing device. She turns over the audio player – I assume to locate the correct track. She starts the player.

There’s a moment’s pause. Then Sharon starts speaking a story – someone else’s story, I think. There’s a change in voice tone. There is a switch happening between two speakers or characters. Sharon is allowing her voice to become that of the person (or people) who’s story or voice she is relaying.

When this story finishes, I am offered the selection of a second story. The second story I choose is very different to the first, it seems to be new voices speaking.

The story ends.

There is a moment's pause.

Sharon asks me what I’m thinking. We have a chat about the stories, who’s they were, how this project came about.

A debrief, and a little humanity.

Leaving me with a memorable experience.

A moment of magic on the way home

2009-05-24T01:32:00.000-07:00

I bent down to pick up a pearl-like bead I’d seen on the ground. Then saw there were a few more – I picked these up too. Then I looked up and saw they continued for quite a way down the road – it was a slightly downwards sloping road, the beads must have dropped and rolled.

Someone stopped and started picking them up for me. I said ‘thanks’ but explained that they weren’t mine and it wasn’t necessary to pick them up. He didn’t hear me. By now the woman with him had started helping too. Someone else stopped and asked what we were looking for. The first man pointed out the beads. The second man started helping too. I’m still trying to explain that they’re not mine and there’s no need to pick them up….

A group of five men walking past ask what we’re doing. The second man explains, two of the five new men stop and pick some up too. It’s all become quite comical by this stage and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves immensely.

I end up with a handful of 57 beads picked up for me by 5 strangers on a street in London.

In this busy city where, usually, we’re all busy pretending we can’t see one another, generally avoiding contact, this seemed a little moment of magic.

Transference and Counter-Transference

2009-05-23T13:46:00.000-07:00

A brief conversation with a student of psychotherapy about Transference and Counter-Transference and how or whether this may potentially relate to one-to-one performances…

No conclusions, just discussion of possibilities.

A brief encounter with a woman waiting for her friend

2009-05-23T01:35:00.000-07:00

They are going to see Underdrome, by Roundhouse artist-in-residence, Darren Johnston. It’s taking place in the main theatre.

She’s interested to hear about the Accidental Festival and the various performances going on around the building.

I've heard, but don't know too much, about Underdrome - she tells me what she knows of it. She's really looking forward to seeing it.

Her son is a DJ and into live music. She'd have liked to see Underdrome with him - it's just the sort of thing he's interested in.

Her friend arrives. We wish each other well and say our goodbyes.

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Friday 22 May 2009

P[H]OETRY from Wanja Kimani

2009-05-23T00:37:00.000-07:00

Wanja collects stories - her own and other people's. She then shares these stories with others informally, in various arts and performance settings.

The place where you encounter the stories may or may not be the place they originated from. This doesn't matter - the stories could be from anywhere.

In sharing the stories, Wanja gives her audience the space to imagine and wonder - the stories become a springboard, allowing the mind to wander and make its own associations.

Today, Wanja is sharing the story of an old photo album that she came across at a camera shop. She doesn't know who its previous owners were, but there remain a few photos from its past life. These give clues. Wanja has been playing with the photos. Imaging characters, lives and scenarios. She has woven her own story into the album by adding a photo of her family, from when she was a child.

In a one to one conversation with Wanja, viewing the album and chatting, we are allowed to wonder, imagine, create and perhaps even overlay our own stories.

Wanja went wandering in Camden to see whether she could gather stories for this performance.

She met a woman at the markets who recalled the time in the early 80s when the New Romantics paraded around the streets of Camden 'like peacocks'. We are invited to listen to a recording of the woman's recollections. Listening to the story, knowing a little of Camden as it is these days, I could really imagine the colour and spectacle that the woman describes.

As I'm listening to the recording, Wanja is laying out a set of small photographs on the table.

She tells me that the woman who shared the story of the New Romantics in Camden gave her these photos. She says I can choose one to keep. I make a selection from the random group of photos - even though I have no idea of who or where they depict, I am automatically overlaying the stories I've heard and imagined in conversation with Wanja.

On the back of the photo is a single line of text:

'How will you be captured in history?'

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Friday 22 May 2009

Responding to the Accidental Festival

2009-05-23T00:04:00.000-07:00

Encounters is aiming to respond directly to the Accidental Festival - taking the festival itself as its starting point.

A useful place to start may be with a recap of the festival's aims as set out by the festival organisers:

Who we are:

The Accidental Festival is steered by a group of passionate, young creative minds whose interests lie in diverse directions. Coming from a degree course that creates practitioners who are more fulfilled means that as emerging artists, we have an unbridled enthusiasm for the arts community that we are fast becoming part of.

We are taught not only to have a thorough understanding of performance, but of art in all its forms. We are keen to encourage and inspire interesting collaborations and debates that will contribute to the progression of theatre, performance and the arts.

About the festival:

The Accidental Festival 2009 is a celebration of the talent, eccentricity and innovation that exists in contemporary performance and the arts - a creative environment dedicated to revelling in the lasting effects art can have on us. We strive to find work of excellent quality from both established and emerging artists that originate from an interesting array of disciplines and stimuli.

As much as we hope to challenge our festival audience, we in turn wish to be
challenged by our audience and we hope that by creating a space for discussion and exchange we can accommodate communication across the 'divide' and make a difference to the contemporary performance landscape.

We are excited by interactivity between audiences and artists as well as between art forms and we aim to provide a platform for a diverse mix of work, including that which is so innovative it cannot necessarily be defined. Experiences, moments of intimacy and subtle exchanges between individuals are as important to us as work which can be more readily termed 'theatre'.

Who the festival is for:

The Accidental Festival is a place for people to meet people, to share ideas, to start collaborations and develop relationships, artistic or otherwise. It is a place for
communication, connection and exchange between individuals who work, play and dabble in the arts …as well as those who simply want to know more.

We aim to break the boundaries between artists and audience, be it during a performance itself or in the bar afterwards.

We hope that we will provide our audiences with ways and means to access areas of creativity and art which before seemed unreachable.

We hope the Accidental Festival 2009 will function as a catalyst to inspire and develop, acting as a binding force for talent and passion.

A living, breathing and ever evolving force with an identity all of its own, The Accidental Festival cannot be tamed.

Background to Encounters

2009-05-18T03:39:00.001-07:00

Encounters is the latest in a series of projects exploring modes of oral / aural interaction and exchange - conversation, listening, talking, sharing information and knowledge, story-telling. Following is some background about previous projects.

In 2008, I was invited to be part of a group show of visual art at some allotments in South London. Over a number of visits to the allotments, to create site-responsive work, I had a series of conversations with several allotment holders. These conversations traversed many topics – some relating to the allotments, gardening and the growing process, others to various aspects of day-to-day life.

Over time, I realised these conversations were, themselves, rich in content. They were perhaps the most significant aspect of my visits to the allotments – in hindsight, they are certainly the most memorable.

I created, and showed, mappings of these conversations, in an effort to render visible the subjects traversed, the points of intersection between various conversations and subjects around which conversations tended to cluster.

Around a similar time, I was invited by Senaka Weeraman of Mnemonic Space to develop a piece of work in response to the history of the Crystal Palace. This was for an event, Interventions of Memory, that took place as part of the London Festival of Architecture, on the site of the original Crystal Palace in Hyde Park.

Initially I had envisaged that I would undertake research using published writing on the history of the Crystal Palace and, potentially, archival research. However, as it came to pass, I met a number of individuals who are interested in, and have undertaken extensive research into, the history of the Crystal Palace.

I began to learn about the history of the Crystal Palace through conversations with, and by listening to the stories told by, these individuals. From the material gathered, I created a visual mapping, in the park, on the day of the event. During the course of the day, others who happened upon the mapping highlighted aspects not yet captured. These were added to the mapping.

As a by-product of this initial Crystal Palace project, I also began to learn about the history of that part of South London now commonly referred to as Crystal Palace. Through conversation, I happened upon some of the stories that make up the collective history of the area. This was developed more formally into Collecting Crystal Palace Stories, a series of conversations at the local library, taking the Crystal Palace area as a point of departure. These conversations traversed several different aspects of the area’s history, stories, memories and imaginings.

Each of these instances involved capturing, then sharing with a wider audience, information, stories, knowledge, anecdotes and memories shared via conversation.

I was interested to experiment with this approach in an arts context and am pleased to have the opportunity to do so at the Accidental Festival.

The intention is to engage in a series of conversations taking the festival itself as a point of departure, over the three days of the festival, to write about these encounters and to share the writing via this blog.

Encounters

2009-03-26T16:24:00.000-07:00

Encounters will take place at The Roundhouse 22-24 May 2009 as part of Accidental Festival.

Linda Duffy will have a series of conversations with interested people during the course of the festival.

Recollections of the conversations will be shared via this blog.

Please check back in May for more.

Encounters

A series of brief encounters

Being attentive to small things

One thing leads to another

It's all networks

Networks

A Language Lesson

Suggested Reading

The magic of puppetry

Experiences and exchanges

Industry Interconnections

A Memorable Experience

A moment of magic on the way home

Transference and Counter-Transference

A brief encounter with a woman waiting for her friend

P[H]OETRY from Wanja Kimani

Responding to the Accidental Festival

Background to Encounters

Encounters