STUDENT NIGHT
WHY MAKE IT SIMPLE, WHEN YOU CAN MAKE IT COMPLEX? A WORK IN PROGRESS
9 November 2016
The NiNES Peckham
On 9 November 2016, The Performance Studio presented Why make it simple, when you can make it complex? A Work in Progress, an evening of experimental actions and installations developed through a month long collaboration with a group of students and recent graduates.
The participants came from MA Art and Science at Central Saint Martins, UAL, alongside recent MA graduates from Goldsmiths and UCA Farnham. The group had originally come together as performers in Robert Whitman’s new commission Side Effects, produced as part of Arts Catalyst’s season 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering Revisited 1966/2016.
Following that project, Arts Catalyst hosted weekly workshops in collaboration with The Performance Studio. The workshops provided the group with an opportunity to develop practical and historical perspectives on performance practice and transdisciplinary working.
The resulting event at The NINES took the form of a performative installation comprising individual works collectively mediated by the group.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The project developed from the participants’ involvement in Robert Whitman’s Side Effects. Whitman’s commission formed part of Arts Catalyst’s 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering Revisited 1966/2016, after which the group continued working together through weekly workshops hosted by Arts Catalyst in collaboration with The Performance Studio.
The process brought together students from MA Art and Science at Central Saint Martins, UAL, with recent MA graduates from Goldsmiths and UCA Farnham, culminating in the work in progress presented at The NINES.
PARTNERSHIP
Arts Catalyst hosted the weekly workshops in collaboration with The Performance Studio, providing a context for the group to develop its approach to performance practice and transdisciplinary working.
At the time, Arts Catalyst described its work as bringing together contemporary artists and scientists and commissioning projects intended to create conversations about a changing world. By 2016, the organisation had been working across art and science for 21 years, collaborating with galleries, museums, universities, arts organisations, science agencies, research centres, festivals and art fairs.
EVENT DETAILS
9 November 2016
Duration: 1 hour
The Nines
Copeland Estate
133 Copeland Road
Peckham, SE15 3SN
Photography
Performance documentation: Tinatin Shaburishvili