Quarantine, in partnership with Fierce are looking for participants for:

The slightest movement: A project about the problem with tolerance

20 – 25 September 2010, West Bromwich

Some people go out into the world. Their task is to go somewhere that they have never been, meet someone who they don’t know and invite them back to an event that has been constructed in their absence.

The task is repeated every day for a week. Each day the event is re-invented according to what happened the day before. A small group grows into a large one, gathering more and more strangers into a temporary – perhaps uneasy – community.

The slightest movement is a simple yet direct project that asks questions about tolerance and ‘otherness’.

Over the course of a week at the end of September, Quarantine will gather together a group of strangers and, through a daily series of varied tasks, events and difficult conversations, create a temporary community that openly debates difference.

Led by Quarantine’s Artistic Director Richard Gregory and designer Simon Banham, we want to invite a core group of 15 people to participate in The slightest movement.

We would like to work with a group that is diverse in every sense – culturally, socially and creatively as well as in levels of experience of involvement in art-based projects. We’re going to try to find a spread of people from West Bromwich itself, some from the West Midlands and some from anywhere else. This is a voluntary project, though we may be able to help with travel and living expenses – more details available on application.

How to get involved….

The slightest movement is open to all, artists and non-artists, irrespective of background or experience. There are only 15 places available. To apply please complete and return the application form available for download from www.qtine.com. Closing date for applications is 3rd September 2010.

First Email - the original inspiration for the project

Here is a copy of the email which inspired our First Email project, which was kindly shared with us by Kristin Fredricksson (http://kristinfredricksson.mfbiz.com/), Karl’s daughter.  As we mentioned below, this email formed part of Kristin’s beautiful, moving show Everything Must Go.

We love Karl’s email.  For us it has the quality of a typographic artwork – a distinctive style: completely without punctuation, spaces or capital letters.  It’s extremely evocative – it tells you a lot about this man, where he was at in 1999 (an early adopter!) and the things that are at the forefront of his mind ‘willsendyoubirthdayyoubirthdaymessage’ are repeated as he processes them and writes to his daughter.

A fortnight ago we held our inaugural ‘Email Party’ at the Old Library in Digbeth.  Thirty children from Hawthorne School, were on hand to introduce senior citizens to the internet and email on Tuesday 20^th July.

This was a key pit stop on a journey that began over six months ago when Laura and I conceived of a project called First Email, as part of the Hello Digital Participatory programme. In conjunction with artist Kate Rowles, Patrick Lacey (from the design agency Abake), Bright Space and the two schools we’ve be working with long-term Hawthorne and Kingsthorne.

Inspired by a scene in a show at the Edinburgh Festival in which an artist shows a still of the first email her father ever sent (a short sweet message to her from a local library) we wanted to develop a project that could delve deeper into this poetic first encounter with technology at an advanced age.

Over the next couple of months we’ll be developing a dedicated site that will archive the first emails of senior citizens from around the country. We hope some of these emails will form the basis of posters that will pop up around October. In the meantime keep an eye out for invitations to get involved by either bringing a friend to a future email party, or giving a lesson to someone you know who might be curious.

Fierce has long been a member of the Live Art UK network and had the opportunity recently to talk about our work alongside our respected peers in ‘In Time: A Collection of Live Art Case Studies’.

Our Executive Producer, Kevin Isaacs talks about our work and Audiences. Kevin talks eloquently around the following subjects: challenges of engagement; artist/audience relationships; the media; site – citing works such as ‘The Great Swallow’ by Benjamin Verdonck and ‘Name in Lights’ by Joshua Sofaer; the importance of education programmes; partnerships; and venue programmes.

Kevin concludes with a statement which I think we all agree with about why we choose to work within the sector:

“Finally, it’s our job as curators, marketers, producers and venue managers to inspire our audiences, and we wouldn’t be working in the field of Live Art if it wasn’t fun, would we? Thinking a bit left-field, being brave and a bit risky, is what makes the job fun, and seeing the audience getting a great experience that they’ll remember for many a year has to be the perfect payback.”

In Time also features case studies from Lyn Gardner, Sonia Dyer, Artsadmin, Live Art Development Agency, The Bluecoat, New Work Network, Colchester Arts Centre, Chapter Arts Centre and Arnolfini. It is a definite ‘must read’ for all those interested in Live Art or the work of organisations like us.

For more information about In Time click here or visit www.liveartuk.org.

In the wake of a very busy week at Fierce we are pleased to announce alongside the Cultural Leadership Programme a CLP Peach Placement with us that will span June to December 2010:

Joint Artistic Directors, Harun Morrison and Laura McDermott see this year as an exciting opportunity for Fierce to investigate what internationalism means to a festival so are looking for an Associate Creative Producer (International Projects):

“we are seeking to explore the challenges of internationalism in its broadest sense. How can international collaborations evolve in light of online technologies? How might an artist from abroad relate to a particular diasporic community? How can internationalism be reconciled with an environmentally sensitive travel policy? What is the best way to fund international projects? How can we engage more with arts communities of South America, Africa, India, China, the Middle East and Eastern Europe? How can we develop and disseminate a model of internationalism for a regional city?”

The placement will be Creative Producer for three specific International projects (potentially EXYZT/ Jeanne Van Heeswijk / South African Artists Platform: including James Webb) supported by Fierce’s artistic directors. We’re excited by the prospect of a mid-career individual with at least five years experience to be joining our team at this pivotal point in Fierce’s evolution.

Alongside Fierce there are a range of opportunities available with the following organisations: DanceEast, Ipswich; Fuel, London; Manchester City Council; National Portrait Gallery, London; and Tate , London.

The deadline to apply for our Peach Placement is 12noon on Monday 10 May 2010. Interviews will take place on Friday 4 June 2010.

For more information about the Peach Placements visit www.culturalleadership.org.uk.