PUBLIC EVENT: 30th January 7pm / £4

Commissionned Artists: Mim King, Got any Rice, Sylvia Rimat, Anne Gaelle Thiriot.

“Myth is not defined by the object of its message, but by the way in which it utters this message: there are formal limits, there are no ‘substantial’ ones.” Roland Barthes, Myth Today.

The works in this event could each be defined for a large part as construction of mythology, a construction of basic tropes in stories- as Barthes suggested, the human mind endlessly creates stories to process and interpret the world. The constructed narratives for Testing Grounds propose a fictionalised reality of the world, through different approaches: autobiographic elements; anatomic and sound examination of a town from an outside stance; stories that reflect an ambiguous presence somewhere between text and reality; and finally the re-exploration of fairy tales and folk tales in order to create a bridge between narrative and abstract features of live performances.

This event is organized in partnership with Permanent Gallery and is the 4th edition of a series of 6 events to be produced in the South East of England. Testing Grounds is financially assisted by the Arts Council England South East.

PUBLIC EVENT: 31^st of October 5pm – 8pm / £4 (inc. a drink)

Pre-booking essential (01344484123)

Testing Grounds is a Live Art and Music event where artists are invited to make new work, rather than reproducing a set performance. This edition is a collaboration with both the visual art department and the music department at South Hill Park and we have commissioned artists to make works with a strong cross over between music/sound and live art.

Jo Bannon

We’ve constructed the event through playing with the rhythm of each individual work; the performances suggest an invisible other, always on the edge of falling into a potential of conflict.

ARTISTS: Holly Bodmer, Christina Jensen, Jo Bannon, Leah Lovett Stavroula Kounadea, Daniel Hunt

This event is organized in partnership with South Hill Park (Outi Remes and William Trevelyan) and is the 3rd edition of a series of 6 events to be produced in the South East of England.

Testing Grounds is financially assisted by the Arts Council England South East.

7pm Saturday 29th August 2009

Bargate Monument Gallery, High Street, Southamton, UK

Testing Grounds is a Live Art and Music event. Artists are invited to make new work, experimenting with new ideas and projects, rather than reproducing a set performance. Testing Grounds is an experimental meeting place for artists, audiences and ideas and aims to be an environment supportive of artistic risk.

This edition will feature a very eclectic mix of works, yet each occupies its own self defining ‘testing ground’, a space where ideas can be pushed beyond limits, emotions felt and attitudes re-questioned.

Each work has been selected for its capacity to twist meaning and expectation through the process of being performed. We hope that through the 6 new and exciting performances, spanning from ceramicist Keith Harrison to East London band The Coolness, the audience will appreciate the diverse artistic attitudes and approaches to finding a space for exploration, and will take the opportunity to reflect, discuss the works and socialize with each other and with the artists.

Free Event But Booking Is Essential. Contact: info@aspacearts.org.uk / 02380 338 778

The event will begin with Philip Stanier opening speech, occupying a liminal space ‘before’ the performance per se, creating a subtle and complex metaphysical puzzle where none ought to be found. boXd productions use multiple live video feeds, TV monitors and choreography to take us into to multi-perspective realm, exploring how personal identity is shaped by the displaced self image in the myriad perceptions of others, and how multiple personalities might form around an individual.

Matt Fletcher will invite the audience into active participation to explore the history Bargate Monument. This contemporary challenge to the notion of the artist as elite author of the work and audience as mere spectator also therefore eschews a singular and authoritative version of history in favor of history as a creative and participatory process. Taking yet another tack, the duo Parachutes and Puzzles submerge the audience in video goggles, dislocating the space of the body from the space of the mind, depicting an unfamiliar journeys, and getting lost in an alter-egos’ memory.

Ceramicist Keith Harrison will present a new work for the first time in a Live Art context, playing on unexpected associations between performance, music and ceramics. The band The Coolness embodies a current testing ground occupied by youth culture. They describe themselves as ‘club rock disco cock funk electro pop’ … “‘a mix between Kiss and early 90s chart dance music, with added sex.’ They also say they’re anti-cool and anti-fashion, but we think they are cool and sex never goes out of fashion?

This event is organized in partnership with A Space in Southampton, and is the second edition of a series of 6 events to be produced in the South East of England until March 2010.
The Bargate Monument Gallery, High Street, Southampton, SO14 1HF.
www.aspacearts.org.uk

Free Event But Booking Is Essential. Contact: info@aspacearts.org.uk / 02380 338 778

David Berridge would like to collaborate with others for his piece. Here is his message to you:

“Performers required to be part of group text piece at Testing Grounds at Permanent Gallery, Brighton on July 18th. Performers will improvise vocally whilst holding a written script that explores different permutations and variations around five short fragments by Franz Kafka. Performers must be available on afternoon and evening of the 18th for rehearsal and performance. There will also be a meeting in Brighton on Tuesday 14th. For further information contact David Berridge on 0753 1422718 or e-mail davidberridgefilm@gmail.com”

If you are interested , please contact David as soon you can.

The Ladies of the Press will be producing a magazine in real time to document the event. They would also like to include documents and texts from the audience. They will be able to collect your information up to one hour after the event starts (8pm).
Here’s their message to you:

We are Ana Cavic and Renee O’Drobinak, the performance art and publishing duo Ladies of the Press*. We are thrilled to be participating in TESTING GROUNDS, and are calling for submissions for our impromptu publishing project TESTING Grounds PRESS!
On the night of TESTING GROUNDS we will open up our LIVE PRESS at the event, publishing a part-documentation and part-alternative site for exhibition of work in the form of a publication printed ‘live’, on the spot. To coincide with TESTING GROUNDS’ experimental spirit, we will be testing an alternative method of live book production, producing TESTING Grounds PRESS from a mixture of pre-printed documents, on-screen templates, submissions from the night, live interventions and physical insertions. We publish work, from doodles to polished material, from exhibitors and the audience alike, creating a small hub of creativity at the gallery.
Please find attached a submission form, which you are free to complete, ignore, celebrate or obliterate. We will, of course, be accepting submissions at the desk, but please be aware that we can only take submissions for the first hour of the event.
We look forward to hearing from you!

All the best,

Ana & Renee

DOWNLOAD SUBMISSION FORM HERE

Please send all submissions to info@ladiesofthepress.org.
More information about LIVE PRESS can be found here:
http://www.ladiesofthepress.org/livepress.html

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