Monday, June 4th, 2007
By Orion Maxted & Al Paldrok
With Miriam King, Elsa Aleuia, Roshana Rubin-Mayhew, Tara Clabeq-Bristow.
‘Survival’ was a six-day nomadic workshop moving from the Sussex downs in southern England to the London streets, with no food, no money and sleeping outdoors. The action was half workshop / half performance. We invited artists by open submission – thus working together to survive, having never met before, was a part of the challenge.
The first two days formed workshops in the rural environment exploring primitivism, whilst foraging for nettles. On moving into London, the outcomes of the discussions formed street actions responding to the context of the city. The focus will be on the activity, development and survival of the group, not the production of performances for passers by. Rather this artistic activity is a way to focus reflection on the activities in general, and mainly as a constituent part of the proposed fundamental needs: 1) Full stomach 2) Community 3) Art.
Together with four participants we moved with the flow of the city itself, nourishing ourselves and making art from its spare but healthy resources which would normally go to waste or be otherwise left inactivated. ‘Survival’ is as much about finding a contemporary evocation of an ancient ‘wilderness ritual’ as it is a workshop for exploring ideas about society and performance to help develop the professional practice of its participants. Consistent amongst these rites, is the action of being separated from one’s society and going to survive in the wilderness in order to find out about oneself, and hence about society.
‘Survival’ is a challenging yet life-affirming experience. Through it new understandings of oneself and one society, new approaches, increased confidence and a renewed creative vigour can be gained.
Documentation book:
http://www.thisisliveart.co.uk/pdf_docs/Survival_DIY.pdf
Survival was a DIY 4 Project.
DIY 4 was a collaboration between the Live Art Development Agency, Artsadmin, and New Work Network, and was developed with Nuffield Theatre/LANWest, New Work Yorkshire, Fierce Festival, Colchester Arts Centre, The Basement Arts Production South East, and Dance4.
DIY 4 was part of Joining the Dots, a Live Art Development Agency initiative supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
Survival on Live Art Development Agency website:
http://www.thisisliveart.co.uk/prof_dev/diy/DIY4_MaxPal.html