Performative Architecturesarchitecture/public space & performance/live art network project

across the UK, Germany and beyond

PRojeCT DoCUmenTATIon

Extract of the notes taken during the ‘Performative Architectures’ Discussion at the Showroom, London

PerForMAtive ArcHitecturesongoing research project since 2011

Performative Architectures is a research project by Helen Stratford and Diana Wesser. The project aims to

open up possibilities for exchange, dialogues, extend existing networks and develop new practice directions.

Kindly supported by Arts Council england and part of the Live Art escalator programme, the project has funding

to make links / build networks with artists working between architecture and performativity to explore alternate

practices in public space. It was recently the subject of a discussion event to explore performativity within social,

participatory and critical spatial practices. hosted by the Showroom, London with emily Pethick, Doina, Kathrin

Böhm and jane Rendell. one of the current outcomes is a DIY leaflet which evolved out of the discussion and

was launched at Wysing Arts Centre Department of overlooked Histories event on the 12th november 2011.

Performative ArchitecturesSTEP 1: research & development in the UK

1.) URBAN (COL)LABORATORY

We are Helen Stratford, English architect and critical writer based in Cambridgeshire and Diana Wesser,

German media and performance artist based in Leipzig. We have been collaborating on a regular basis

since 2005 as urban (col)laboratory whose art practice is rooted in performative practice. Located between

architecture, visual art, writing and performance, our practice uses live art in the form of socially-engaged

processes to engage with buildings and public space. We use process-led research to engage with and make

visible different spatial perceptions and ways of constructing knowledge about place. Often focusing on those

who are simultaneously peripheral yet central to their production, or work explores the way we perceive and

experience our surroundings through conventions and categories, considers how buildings and public spaces are

produced, performed and how they figure in broader urban, rural and cultural landscapes. To date, outcomes of

this interdisciplinary collaboration include public art projects, performative walks, exhibitions, spatial and audio

interventions, lectures and discussions, published papers, films, artist’s books and articles in architectural/art

journals, presented at local, national and international events. (see documentation provided)

Over recent years our collective and individual practices have started to gain recognition from a number of

regional, national and international visual and performing arts institutions and organisations. This has enabled

us to forge links and networks with people working in live art and socially-engaged approaches to public space in

London, Leipzig, Berlin and beyond. Most recently we have been selected to participate in Performance Studies

International (PSi) for PSi#17 Utrecht 2011 - Camillo 2.0 Technology, Memory, Experience (www.psi17.org).

Blind SPotS Performative research, walk and lecture video. Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester (UK), 2008We invited the audience to join a child’s play on the waterless fountain.

2.) ‘PERFORMATIVE ARCHITECTURES’

Our work is collaborative, working with other artists, curators, publics and places. It is these performative and

socially-engaged aspects of our practice we would like to research through the ‘Performative Architectures’

project through visiting other artists working in socially-engaged projects that sit between concepts of

architecture, public space and performance. Through our practice, we have become aware of growing numbers

of people/groups working between the fields of visual art, architecture and performance. While these practices

exist, initial searches indicate little extended research and specific networks available. We see ‘Performative

Architectures’ as a starting point in facilitating links/exchanges between artists working in this way. The project

is divided in three steps. Step 1: research & development in the UK, Step 2: extending the network to Germany,

Step 3: international practices.

The current proposed activity is for step 1, a 6-month period of research & development in the UK. This step

structured in three phases: 1. research, 2. exchange and 3. critical reflection and will partly take place in the

frame of an invited live/work residency at Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridgeshire, UK (www.wysingartscentre.

org). The overall focus is to research ways we might develop our UK network in the context of ‘Performative

Architectures,’ with the following aims. First, to visit other artists, allowing us to critically reflect on how our

practice and the ‘Performative Architectures’ network might be positioned in relation to other collaborative,

live art, public-realm based and socially-engaged projects that work between concepts of architecture and

performance. Second, the project will aim to expand the range of potential collaborators thus increasing the

opportunities to develop new directions in our practice. Third, the project will offer important benefits for others

through opening up future possibilities for exchange and dialogues that will build on our research offering the

potential to establish future connections, networks and collaborations, support structures and links for and

between others working in this way.

FiSSureS in the hArBour oF knowledge Performative walk and talk. Ruhr Universität Bochum, 2009

PERFORMATIVE ARCHITECTURES

3. MAKING IT HAPPEN: research – exchange – critical reflection in more detail.

1. research: gaining a broader understanding of where our work sits in relation to contemporary perfor-

mance/live art practice in the UK through identifying artists and places to visit, literature to read and networks

to access in order to identify research questions in relation to our own practice development and exploring

opportunities and dialogues between performance-based work in galleries and public space. Confirmed UK con-

tacts include the showroom (www.theshowroom.org) where we will host a talk/discussion event in the Autumn

with urban tactics from Sheffield University (www.urbantactics.org). We have also contacted artists French

Mottershead (www.frenchmottershead.com), Townley and Bradby, Emma Smith and Heike Roms and artist

group ‘random people’ at Aberystwyth Centre for Performance Research (www.thecpr.org.uk).

Contacts to follow up include RADAR: Loughborough University’s contemporary arts programme (www.arts.

lboro.ac.uk/radar), Trampoline platform for new media art (www.trampoline.org.uk), Grisedale Arts (www.

grizedale.org), gas works (www.gasworks.org.uk) and CUBE Manchester (www.cube.org.uk) where we were se-

lected artists for CUBE Open 2010. We also plan to visit and make connections with artist Duncan Speakman

and Situations in Bristol while also strengthening existing links with artists such as Emma Hedditch. In London

we would like to arrange meetings with Artsadmin, (www.artsadmin.co.uk), Live Art Development Agency (www.

thisisliveart.co.uk) and new Work network (www.newworknetwork. org.uk) to talk about our work in relation to

Live Art, the Architecture Foundation (www.architecturefoundation.org.uk) to discuss our work in relation to

architecture/art practice; and visit London-based artists Public Works (www.publicworksgroup.net), and Pope

and Guthrie (somewhere.org.uk).

Initial ideas for the second step of the project, extending the network project to Germany include Raumlabor,

Berlin (www.raumlabor.net/), Program e.V., Berlin (www.programonline.de), HafenCity University Hamburg,

(www.hcu-hamburg.de), Open Urban Institute, Frankfurt am Main (openurbaninstitute.org), Boris Sieverts,

Büro für Städtereisen, Köln (www.neueraeume.de/start.htm), LIGNA, Hamburg (www.ligna.blogspot.com/),

urban research institut, Nürnberg (www.urban-research-institute.org), raumtaktik – office from a better future,

(Hamburg), Homebase V Project, Berlin (www.homebaseproject.com), die urbanauten, München (www.die-

urbanauten.de), arttours, Stuttgart (www.stuttg-arttours.de), treacle, Stuttgart (www.treacletheatre.co.uk)

PERFORMATIVE ARCHITECTURES

home iS where the PiAno iS – how can you feel at home in orchard ParkParticipatory project and Performative interventions, Cambridge, 2009

2. exchange: meeting artists in the UK, peer group networking meetings, one-on-one surgeries, mentoring and

critical support. We propose to invite people to Wysing Arts Centre to participate in a laboratory, offering a

number of workshops discussions and presentation/screenings. Researching work that explores the following

key questions: How are power structures manifest through the built environment? What are the relations

between movement in public space and architecture? How are the current ‘culture of fear’ and the ‘German

angst’ manifest in streets, buildings and actions? What kinds of resistance practices exist in live art? What is

the momentary consensus in performance/live art practice if any?

3. outcomes and Critical reflection: we will develop a website and blog to act as an exchange/reference

point throughout the process. This stage of the project will use critical input from mentoring and support to

begin to reflect on possible training required and explore research questions. During the project three public

talks will been programmed at Performance, Art and Architectural venues, each engaging with very different

publics. Confirmed talks include Performance Studies International conference, PSi#17, Camillo, Utrecht, linked

to theatre festival: Festival a/d Werf (NL), and Wysing Arts Centre. The architectural venue is to be confirmed -

initial ideas include Architectural Centres CUBE: Manchester or Shape East and strengthening existing links with

architecture/art practice Public Works through presenting at their ‘Friday Session,’ public talks programme.

The third phase of this initial step of Performative Architectures will also start to develop ideas for projects

that critically build on research asking how we can push our practice and what can our work bring that extends

and develops thinking and practice concerning contemporary performance/live art practice in relation to site

specific work and public space. For example extending the network project to German and other international

practices, a larger live art based event in 2012, a symposium or a weekend with talks, presentations and live

performances. Using theory to be inspired and using practice to learn something theoretically, the outcome of

which could be a publication or exhibition.

FiSSureS in the hArBour oF knowledge Performative walk and talk,Ruhr Universität Bochum, 2009

PERFORMATIVE ARCHITECTURES

3. THE RESIDENCY

Helen is a studio artist at Wysing Arts Centre. She has been part of the community of artists there since 2009

when she was selected for a 6-month residency in on their ‘Communities under Construction’ residency, this

was immediately followed by a successful competitive application to be a studio artist.

Diana has been invited by Wysing Arts Centre for a self-funded residency in Wysings’s live/work studio, which

they offer artists alongside other funded residency programmes. We propose to use this time for an intensive 2-

month research and project development period during Autumn 2011, to strengthen and extend the networks

in which we work in order to develop new directions in our practice. Wysing have also offered curatorial support

during Diana’s time at the Centre.

4. TIME FRAME first step: research & development in the UK

12-months between May 2011 and May 2012

THE RESIDENCY & TIME FRAME

PrACtiSing wySing: 10 wAyS to miSuSe A Building 10 choreographic instructions to adapt a gallery, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge 2010