we make lots of things: performances, exhibitions, interventions, texts, workshops, discussions, videos, sculptures, interventions, collaborations, etc.
there are three main strands:
- hosting / self-organised
We hold space for artist-peers to do the work they do. Through our free choreography school, Only Losers Left Alive, we are facilitating a group of 'losers, loners, lovers and doubters' across the East Midlands to work, think, eat and move together across 2020. Our infrequent radio station Radio Play
is a live online broadcast of experimental sound works, invited by our peers across geographical and disciplinary borders.
These projects happen inside and outside of institutional spaces. They practice transparency, peer-exchange, debt, pleasure and cheerleading. We are grateful for those who have made space for us, and avoid ideas of 'generosity' or 'altruism' through the understanding that these exchanges feed and challenge us. We are hesitant about words like 'curation' or 'independent', and seek to instead make this a contribution to a 'feral' ecology of artistic practice.
Photo by Collette Rayner
- artworks / performances
While we (probably) most often work with performance, we make lots of things that get presented in galleries, online, in publications, on stages. We work with a range of materials and practices, including sculpture, collage, video, sound, drawing, text and print. We often undertake residencies to grapple with particular materials for the first time: like video (Hospitalfield, 2016), sculpture (Summer Lodge, 2017), sound (Siobhan Davies Dance, 2018) and light (PACT Zollverein, 2019). Next on the list are scripts and acting: we are working with playwright Andy Edwards on Two Hander, a narrative five-act play set in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5, with support from Playwrights Studio Scotland, Nottingham Playhouse and Dance4.
Major projects include This (2018), a performance for galleries and studio spaces that draws together the the restless bodies of slapstick with contemporary choreography and sculpture; solo exhibition As If Nobody's Watching (2019) at 4/4 in Nottingham of collage, sculpture and print that formed hesitant and critical relationships to their own visibility and display; and Can You Feel It? (2019), a stage performance that presents a virtuosic, excessive, and mischievous laboratory of feeling, through which two performers thread an (impossible) line between feeling and fakery.
Photo by Adam Grainger
- discursive / critical
We are engaged formally and informally, as a collective and independently, with discussions around contemporary artistic practice and its institutional landscape.
We have recently undertaken a series of projects to critically address the nature of arts institutions, and the roles of and relationships between organisational staff, artists and public. Through Ghosting (2019), we invited a group of artists, researchers, critics and performers to transform themselves into ghosts and haunt Toynbee Studios - to explore “uncertainty, bad feeling, and the histories we’d rather forget”. This research project culminated in a digital publication (Autumn 2020).
In 2020 the project, Table Dances and Boardroom Games, will present table dances on the office desks’ of arts organisations – decelerating working rhythms and returning to the ‘trans-generational contract’ of the institution – before hosting a discursive séance on notions of ownership and stewardship with the stakeholders of these spaces (staff, artists, public, civic officers, funders, the dead, the not-yet-here).
mutual dependency
All of this work is made through a network of peers and organisations; through knocking on doors, leaning on each other, and asking for favours.
Our current and most frequent collaborators include:
Sonia E Barrett, Gareth Cutter, Fionn Duffy, Andy Edwards, Alex Fernandes, Garth Gratrix, Hamish MacPherson, Sam Pardes, Orley Quick and Anika Vajagic.
We have received commissions, awards and significant support from:
PACT Zollverein (Essen), Siobhan Davies Dance (London), Dance4 (Nottingham), Sue Maufe (Norfolk), David Roberts Art Foundation (London), Live Art Development Agency (London), Arts Council England, DanceXchange (Birmingham), a-n (Newcastle and London), Chisenhale Dance Space (London) and others.
We retain all of our institutional applications as a publicly accessible archive:
Sheffield Theatre (Sheffield, UK) Can You Feel It?, Feb 2020: pdf
School of Waters Biennial, BJCEM (San Marino) Can You Feel It?, January 2020: pdf
1927 Bursary (London, UK) Two Hander, January 2020: pdf
The Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award (London, UK) Two Hander, December 2019: pdf
Allotment Fund, Chisenhale Dance Space (London, UK) Table Dances and Boardroom Games, December 2019: pdf
Development Awards, Bonnie Bird Choreography Fund (UK) Table Dances and Boardroom Games, November 2019 : pdf
Bursary, a-n (UK) Table Dances and Boardroom Games, November 2019: pdf
Amplify Festival, Nottingham Playhouse (Nottingham, UK) Can You Feel it?, October 2019: pdf
Tanzmesse 2020 (Düsseldorf, Germany) This, October 2019: pdf
New Work Fund, Jerwood Arts (London, UK) Two Hander, June 2019: pdf
DIY16 Live Art Development Agency (London, UK) Ghosting, March 2019: pdf
Print: A Catalyst for Social Change, Bury Art Museum (Manchester, UK) Pointing the Finger, February 2019: pdf
Project Grants, Arts Council England (UK) Can You Feel It?, January 2019: pdf
Choreodrome, The Place (London, UK) Can You Feel It?, January 2019: pdf
The Next Thing Award, Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre (Bury, UK) Filibuster, November 2018: pdf
Edinburgh Showcase 2019, British Council (UK) This, October 2018: pdf
Sprint 2019, Camden People’s Theatre (London, UK) This, October 2018: pdf
OPEM Residencies, The Collection (Lincoln, UK) Trade, September 2018: pdf
Oops Festival, Swallows Feet (Brighton, UK) This, September 2018: pdf
Developing Your Creative Practice fund, Arts Council England (UK) August 2018: pdf
Emergency 2018, Word of Warning (Manchester, UK) Empty Gestures, August 2018: pdf
Nottingham Takeover 2019, UK Young Artist (Nottingham, UK) A Pig’s Ear, July 2018: pdf
Residency, Pact Zollverein (Essen, Germany) Can You Feel It?, July 2018: pdf
Artistic Commissions, Dance Hub (Birmingham, UK) Can You Feel It?, June 2018: pdf
SURGE 2018, The Courtauld Institute of Art (London, UK) April 2018: pdf
SPILL Open, SPILL Festival (Ipswich, UK) This, March 2018: pdf
DIY15, Live Art Development Agency (London, UK) In One Ear and Out the Other, March 2018: pdf
CARP 2018, The Civic (Barnsley, UK) Open/Close, March 2018: pdf
Grants for the Arts, Arts Council England (UK) This, February 2018: pdf
Open Choreography Residency, Siobhan Davies Dance (London, UK), Sound art residency, February 2018: pdf
Open Choreography Performance evening, Siobhan Davies Dance (London, UK) This: pdf
Sunday Supplement, Dance4 (Nottingham, UK) This, February 2018: pdf
Open Borders, BBK Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe, Germany) Floorplan, January 2018: pdf
Film Free and Easy, Primary (Nottingham, UK) It’s Out of our Hands, January 2018: pdf
Scratch Night, Derby Theatre (Derby, UK) This, January 2018: pdf
Residency Programme 2018-19, The Art Foundation (Wakefield, UK) Sound Art Residency, January 2018: pdf
Staged, The Bomb Factory Art Foundation (London, UK) Five-a-Day, January 2018: pdf
Performing Arts Micro Bursaries, Jerwood Charitable Foundation (London, UK) Plus One, January 2018: pdf
TAPRA Postgraduate Symposium, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (London, UK) This, January 2018: pdf
Experimental Film Club (Edinburgh, UK) Meaningless Dance 18 and It’s Out of Our Hands, December 2017: pdf
Urban Sonic Places, CRiSAP at LCC (London, UK) Horsing About, December 2017: pdf
Check-In Festival, Derby Theatre (Leicester, UK) This, December 2017: pdf
Creative Lab residency, CCA (Glasgow, UK) Sound Art Residency, December 2017: pdf
BE Festival 2018 (Birmingham, UK) Empty Gestures, December 2017: pdf
Acts Re-Acts 5, Wimbledon College of Art (London, UK) This, December 2017: pdf
Now&After’18 (Moscow, Russia) It’s Out of Our Hands, December 2017: pdf
Launch Night, Clocked (Manchester, UK) Untitled Score for Two Performers, December 2017: pdf
Artist Bursaries, Jerwood Visual Arts (London, UK) Radio Play, December 2017: pdf
UK Young Artists (Nottingham, UK) Only Losers Left Alive, November 2017: pdf
Hidden Door 2018 (Edinburgh, UK) This, November 2017: pdf
Artist in Residence 2018, The Centre for Philosophy and Visual Arts and Kunsthuis SYB (London, UK and the Netherlands) This, November 2017: pdf
dx Choreography Award, DanceXchange (Birmingham, UK) This, November 2017: pdf
Anatomy 16, Summerhall (Edinburgh, UK) Five-a-Day, October 2017: pdf
Live 7, Camden People’s Theatre (London, UK) This, October 2017: pdf
Scribble Pie, The Others (London, UK) Five-a-Day, October 2017: pdf
Work Processing, Chisenhale Dance Space (London, UK) This, October 2017: pdf
In Good Company Scratch, Derby Theatre (Derby, UK) This, October 2017: pdf
A6 Books, London Centre for Book Arts (London, UK) Pocket Book, September 2017: pdf
Group show, Grand Union (Birmingham, UK) September 2017: pdf
The FLAMIN Fellowship, Film London (London, UK) The Orchestra, September 2017: pdf
Open Call for Sound & Radio Works, Radiophrenia (Glasgow, UK) The Chorus, September 2017: pdf
Photobook Fair, Impressions Gallery (Bradford, UK) Pocket Book, September 2017: pdf
FIRSTDRAFTS, Yard Theatre (London, UK) Dance, Dance Revolution, September 2017: pdf
isthisit? (London, UK) The Rules of the Game, August 2017: pdf
MOVIMIENTO EN MOVIMIENTO, Centro de Cultura Digital (Mexico City, Mexico) It’s Out of Our Hands, and Finding the Frame, August 2017: pdfs here and here
Aerowaves (EU) Some Possibilities, August 2017: pdf
Queer Art(ists) Now, And What? Festival (London, UK) Some Things, August 2017: pdf
Emergency, Z-Arts (Manchester, UK) Pointing the Finger, July 2017: pdf
Artist Film Festival IV, Bomb Factory (London, UK) It’s Out Of Our Hands, July 2017: pdf
Tenderpixel (London, UK) It’s Out Of Our Hands, July 2017: pdf
Tag Team Open Call (Bergen, Norway) Better Out Than In, July 2017: pdf
UK Young Artists, Seojung Art Centre, and Superior Gallery (Seoul, South Korea) Floorplan, July 2017: pdf
Residency, PACT Zollverein (Essen, Germany) This, July 2017: pdf
DISKURS Festival (Giessen, Germany) The Chorus, July 2017: pdf
ExperiMentor, New Art Exchange (Nottingham, UK) June 2017: pdf
Stanley Picker Fellowship, Stanley Picker Gallery (Kingston, UK) This, June 2017: pdf
Open Choreography residency, Siobhan Davies Dance (London, UK) Plus One, June 2017: pdf
Curatorial Open 2017, Lewisham Art House (London, UK) Monkey Business, June 2017: pdf
Scratch Off The Page, Object Book (London, UK) Untitled Score for Two Performers, May 2017: pdf
Wake: The Risings, ]performance s p a c e [ (Folkstone, UK) Pointing the Finger, May 2017: pdf
Venice Agendas 2017: The Contract, Venice Agendas (Margate / Folkestone, UK) Rolling Contracts, May 2017: pdf
In Good Company Scratch, Derby Theatre (Derby, UK) RP, May 2017: pdf
3-Phase, Jerwood Charitable Foundation, Eastside Projects & WORKPLACE (London, Birmingham & Gateshead, UK) This, May 2017: pdf
dx Choreography Award 2017, danceXchange (Birmingham, UK) This, May 2017: pdf
Hidden Lines of Space (Berlin, Germany) Floorplan, May 2017: pdf
Underneath The Floorboards (London, UK) Finding the Frame, April 2017: pdf
DataAche, DRHA2017, University of Plymouth (Plymouth, UK) RP and Empty Gestures, April 2017: pdf
Residency, Summer Lodge (Nottingham, UK) Just One Thing on Top of Another, April 2017: pdf
Au Brana Creative Development Residency (Gers, France) Plus One/Residency, April 2017: pdf
Font Fest (Nottingham, UK) Plus One, April 2017: pdf
Flare Festival (Manchester, UK) Some Possibilities, March 2017: pdf
DIY 14, LADA (London, UK) Wasting Time, March 2017: pdf
Breakthrough, Curve Theatre (Leicester, UK) RP, February 2017: pdf
FLUX 4, Performance Platform (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) Empty Gestures, February 2017: pdf
Dialogues on Dance, Philosophy, and Performance, C-DaRE Coventry University (Coventry, UK) Some Possibilities, February 2017: pdf
Dreams Before Dawn, Bred in the Bone (Paris, France) Some Possibilities, February 2017: pdf
Us & Them #9, Tetrad Collective (Leicester, UK) RP, February 2017: pdf
Dance on the Radio (UK) Listen In (with Fionn Duffy), February 2017: pdf
Montag Mogus, Collegium Hungaricum Berline (Berlin, Germany) Some Possibilities, February 2017: pdf
Ground Work, Decoda (Coventry, UK) Open Platform, February 2017: pdf
Cube Development Week, Project Arts Centre (Dublin, Ireland) RP, January 2017: pdf
Twofold: the Particularities of Working in Pairs, Birkbeck Centre for Contemporary Theatre (London, UK) Conference paper, January 2017: pdf
Choreodrome, The Place (London, UK) Some Possibilities, January 2017: pdf
First Bite, China Plate Theatre (Midlands, UK) RP, January 2017: pdf
Residency, Low Stakes Festival (London, UK) RP, January 2017: pdf
Artistic Research Grant, L-EST/European Performing Arts and Transmedia Lab (Belfort, France) Attend, January 2017: pdf
Open Lab, Barbican (London, UK) RP, January 2017: pdf
Performing Arts Micro Bursaries, Jerwood Charitable Foundation (London, UK) RP, December 2016: pdf
Artists Bursaries, Jerwood Visual Arts (London, UK) Tempura Batter Handbook, December 2016: pdf
Production Residency, Greenwich Dance & Trinity Laban Partnership (London, UK) Lengths, December 2016: pdf
SET me free, VeNe (Venice, Italy) Finding the Frame, December 2016: pdf
CCA Creative Lab Residencies 2017/18, CCA (Glasgow, UK), What’s That?, December 2016: pdf
DEparture Lounge, Attenborough Arts Centre (Leicester, UK), A House Made of Cardboard and Tape, December 2016: pdf
DEparture Lounge, Attenborough Arts Centre (Leicester, UK), RP, December 2016: pdf
Residencies 2017, PACT Zollverein (Essen, Germany) December 2016: pdf
Residency, TOP SHED (Norfolk, UK) November 2016: pdf
Platform for Emerging Arts, Leyden Gallery (London, UK) November 2016: pdf
BE Festival (Birmingham, UK) Empty Gestures, November 2016: pdf
Acts Re-Acts 4, Wimbledon College of Arts (London, UK) What’s That?, November 2016: pdf
Dance Weekend 2017, Performance Art Depot (Mainz, Germany) Some Possibilities, November 2016: pdf
Buzzcut 2017, Buzzcut (Glasgow, UK) Pointing the Finger, November 2016: pdf
Swallowsfeet Festival 2017, Swallowsfeet (Brighton, UK) Some Possibilities, November 2016: pdf
NOW’17, The Yard (London, UK) Empty Gestures, October 2016: pdf
EXPERIMENTICA, Chapter (Cardiff, UK) Empty Gestures, September 2016: pdf
OPENLAB Facilitator Call Out, OPENLAB (London, UK), September 2016: pdf
Choreographic commission, Third Row Dance (London, UK) Infinite Tango (with Samantha Pardes), August 2016: pdf
Resolution 2017, The Place (London, UK) Empty Gestures, August 2016: pdf
Just Off the Wall, Tripspace (London, UK) Testing the Water, August 2016: pdf
Dance Artist Mentorship Programme, Siobhan Davies Dance (London, UK) May 2016: pdf
EXHI[5]BITIONS, mingbeast@Rich Mix (London, UK) Empty Gestures, April 2016: pdf
Us and Them #6, Tetrad (Leicester, UK) Empty Gestures, April 2016: pdf
SPILL National Platform, SPILL Festival (Ipswich) This?, April 2016: pdf
Interdisciplinary Residency 2016, Hospitalfield Arts (Arbroath, UK), March 2016: pdf
Graduate Emerging Companies Programme, New Diorama Theatre (London, UK) March 2016: pdf
LIVE, Barrel Organ@Camden People’s Theatre (London, UK) Empty Gestures, March 2016: pdf
Open Call, Chalton Gallery (London, UK) A House Made of Cardboard and Tape, February 2016: pdf
Trip the Light 2016, Tripspace (London, UK) Partner Dance for One, February 2016: pdf
New Contemporaries (London, UK) Being Here or There, January 2016: pdf
International Conference on Artistic Research, Society for Artistic Research (The Hague, Netherlands), Digital Writing Group, January 2016: pdf
Pulse Festival, The New Wolsey Theatre (Ipswich, UK), Empty Gestures, January 2016: pdf
Triptychs, Café Ollo (Huddersfield, UK), Open/Close, December 2015: pdf
Acts Re-acts, Wimbledon College of Arts (London, UK), Empty Gestures, November 2015: pdf
Buzzcut 2016, Buzzcut (Glasgow, UK), In it or Out of it, November 2015: pdf
NOW’16, The Yard (London, UK), Empty Gestures, November 2015: pdf
Dance Springs Choreography platform – Changing Spaces, University of Hertfordshire (Hertfordshire, UK) Partner Dances for One, November 2015: pdf
Practice, Salisbury Arts Centre & ICIA University of Bath (Bath, UK) Partner Dances for One, October 2015: pdf
Open Call, Bargain Spot (Edinburgh, UK) Getting to Grips with Furniture, September 2015: pdf
Freshly Scratched, Battersea Arts Centre (London, UK) Partner Dances for One, September 2015: pdf
Calm Down Dear, Camden People’s Theatre (London, UK) Partner Dances for One, June 2015: pdf
New Studio (London, UK) Table Piece, February 2015: pdf
a.m. Call for Performance Artists, a.m. London (London, UK) Table Piece, December 2014: pdf
Forest Fringe , Edinburgh Festival Fringe (Edinburgh, UK) (I.F.P) Imaginary Festivals Project, March 2014: pdf
NOW’14, The Yard (London, UK) Attend, September 2013: pdf