x.Trax international showcase 2001

Where Have They Hidden All The Answers? – Third Angel

A multimedia installation exploring the uncertainty of our times by Sheffield based, genre-defying Third Angel. (GR)

 

Film – Uninvited Guests

The projector jams; the film print flares and the image burns out across the screen. In Film, Uninvited Guests imagine the end of cinema – a time when the films have been lost or banned, the prints degraded, or burned. The material for Film was generated through a series of interviews in cinemas, in which people were asked to describe a scene from a movie which stood out in their memory. In a theatre space, part studio – part cinema, Uninvited Guests restage the film shoots and produce a live edit/mix. (BS)

 

Set – Plane Performance

Amongst the paraphernalia of a forgotten film set, 5 performers attempt a reconstruction of one of the most classic of English films, conjuring fragments of a time when the words didn’t sound like they’d all been said before, when naivety was the way things were; when certainty wasn’t even an issue. Following the international success of Three Degrees of Frost, and again directed by Neil Mackenzie, Plane Performance switch their attention to Brief Encounter whilst, as ever, keeping both eyes firmly on the present. (GR)

 

Beneath Our Feet – Storehouse

There are times when an artist may feel like an archaeologist, digging deep to excavate material that has been hidden – making visible that which has been out of sight or overlooked. In Beneath Our Feet, installation artist Colin Higginson and performance artist Brenda Waite have created a site of exploration at the centre of which is a mobile unit/caravan where collected material is housed and displayed. From this site they will explore the surrounding area, carrying out investigations through mapping, recording and the collecting of visual material. (BS)

 

Unfinished Essays on Limits and Threat – Alex Bradley

‘You won’t like this but…’ Thoughts that get shelved, put to one side, forgotten. Ideas that are impossible, illegal, dangerous, stupid. Taking two starting points this performance will be the result of contributions of various artists’ unrealised ideas and research into what can and can’t be put in the same room as an audience. (BS)

 

Speakeasy

An open mic for people with soul…Manchester’s hottest lyrical jam brings creativity, spontaneity and soul to the people….get interactive with spoken word, song, artists and some heavyweight vinyl. Full line up to be announced. (GR)

 

32,000 Points of Light Sound Installation -Gracie/Speakman/Marlowe/Bradley/Mawford

You will be taken into an immersive environment, where points of light are your only visual guide. Uniquely interpreted by each viewer, you are taken at once away and into yourself, through a set of experiences where sound is your only guide, making the simple action of moving the air transport the viewer into undescribed journeys. (BS)

 

Playing But Losing – Tom Marshman & Elaine Kordys

Set in an information resource centre at an indeterminate time where data on ‘lost and found’ is being collected for no apparent reason. Developed from a notice board upon which the public pinned up lost and found things, tangible or otherwise: people, possessions, emotions, states of mind. At times playful and others just plain weird, Playing But Losing explores wider issues of fragmentation. (BS)

 

Crowded Stomach – Benji Reid

Benji Reid, performance artist, stand-up tragedian, and bodypopper invites you into the rhythmic underbelly of The Waiting Room, Part Three – Crowded Stomach – Amongst text from Shakespeare, seven naked light bulbs and Radiohead, Reid represents a multitude… the crowded tenements of the human figure, the world of Jimi Hendrix, the intolerant neighbour and the quiet hero. (GR)

 

Aria Spinta – Di Donni Productions

If Alfred had not interrupted Ursula’s solo just at its climax, she would not have insulted him, he would not have felt offended and left Franz alone on stage, tied up like a salami, complaining to the audience. If all this hadn’t have happened, and Theresa, in the end, hadn’t stopped everybody from doing what they wanted to do, well, the show would have been another one, without conflicts, kisses, fear and joy, shame and impudence. Di Donni Productions is a contemporary dance company established by ex members of Wim Vandekeybus’ Ultima Vez . (AL)

 

Function Municipal Constructions

Under the full power of light a secret witnessing of the dissection of the electrical city. The workings of a city bleed into the chambers, corridors and empty pools of a vacant Edwardian bath house as technology transforms the night. An installation work of sound, video and live performance by Graham Clayton-Chance with an original sound score by Spencer HW Marsden. (DS)

 

Feeling Poorly – Sophia New with Catherine Large

‘Don’t come near me – don’t go away: comfort me, soothe me, talk to me’. Feeling Poorly looks at common illnesses and the visceral experience of the ointments we rely on to relieve our symptoms. The nostalgic smells, the textures, the hours that linger on as we are forced to contemplate our bodily state. In the dark you will be led to a body to discover messages and memories. A fifteen-minute performance/installation for one audience member at a time. (BS)

 

Pills for Modern Living – Third Angel

Always losing arguments? Never able to muster that genuine smile when it really counts? Always falling in love with the wrong type of person? Then Pills for Modern Living is a new range that you just can’t afford to live without. This photographic installation offers nice, simple and often very cheap solutions to those annoying everyday problems. In a world of fast-living and microwaved everything, all you have to do is pop a pill and relief is instantaneous. (BS)

 

Truancies – Matt Hawthorn

Truancies is an act of homage to ignored environments. A lone performer traverses a city’s boundaries, releasing fragments to an installation in Victoria Baths. The work exists as a series of misrecognised collaborations across the Manchester hinterland. Matt Hawthorn’s work as a performance artist and writer looks at issues of space, identity and meaning. (BS)

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