EXIT

If everything goes to plan, this darling year of ours will end today at midnight. After trudging along relentlessly, 2009 will finally pass. It will have had twelve months, filleted into fifty-two weeks or, if you prefer it, crumbled into three hundred sixty-five days. Something takes place around this time of year, every year, which gives me a certain degree of pleasure: news programmes have a nostalgic tendency to show footage they have steadily collected over the last year. The images, I have to say, tend to include a high percentage of despair and tragedy, only peppered by a few fortunate incidents. And yet, I sit and watch. Perhaps it is not actual pleasure but rather awe that I experience. What I am sure of is that I enjoy sitting and watching the year go past in images; a rather trivial reminder of the inexorable passage of time, and perhaps a last ditched attempt to understand what has happened. So far I have not been able to get the same high whilst browsing through the 20 events that Hotmail tells me ‘made the decade’, but they served as an appetiser. However, for the first time, I have read something in print which has come close to producing the exhilaration I feel when watching an edited potpourri of news footage. And I believe it is able to do so because it highlights the inevitability and complexities we all face when leaving a decade behind and starting a new one:

History doesn’t seem to have a taste for round figures. The decade of the 1980s, for example, began in May 1979 when Margaret Thatcher swept into the British Parliament. The decade of the 1990s also began ahead of its time, just at the moment when the Berlin wall fell, in November 1989. And the first decade of the 21st century truly seemed to get started with the terrorist attacks on September 11 2001.
There are decades that are marked by ideas. Ideas are something different to events. Ideas are often the consequence of events, although they can also be the cause that leads to events. On the one hand, the communist regimes were a product, at least in part, of Marx’s idea that history would end with the triumph of socialism. On the other hand, Francis Fukuyama’s idea that history ended with the triumph of democracy and the free market was the consequence of the event that closed the 20th century: the failure of communism. In the decade of the 1980s the idea that led to events was economic ultraliberalism; and the decade of the 1990s the idea that defined the period was globalisation, the vision of a more interdependent world. The first decade of the 21st century has been defined by the attacks in New York and Washington; attacks that kick-started a period characterised by global terrorism, from London to Bali, passing through Madrid and Istanbul. But this decade has also been dominated by an idea: the so-called global war against terrorism and its first battle started in Afghanistan. The idea that dominated George W. Bush’s presidency was neoconservativism, a maniqueist cosmovision. And the fear and wrath resulting from the 9/11 attacks facilitated that the neo-cons should apply their idea which, amongst other things affirmed that the soviet threat had transfigured into militant Islamism.
The overthrow of the Taliban regime (2001) and Saddam Hussein (2003) marked the unilateral/centralised moment, the period when the USA exhorted its highest level of power. But the neoconservative vision demonstrated that it was incapable to reorganise the world. The Bush Administration pretended to revolutionise, with wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the system inherited from the Cold War. The result was a disaster, amongst other things because the war against terrorism did not become an organising principle for the international system. Bush announced the democratisation of the Middle East after the invasion of Iraq, but the Middle East has taken a turn for the worse. The autocracies in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, for example, had become harder, which does not necessarily mean they have become stronger; Iraq is total chaos; Iran has become a regional power; new non-govertamental players such as Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Mahdi Army have become consolidated; peace between Palestinians and Israelis provokes general scepticism.
Global terrorism has affected Western societies, but the war against terrorism has relegated to the background the events taking place in South America, where populism doesn’t relent; in Africa, tormented by poverty, illness tribal rivalries, and the tragedy in Darfur; and in Asia, where two emerging superpowers continue to grow: China and India. That is to say, the world has become multifocal/decentred. Bush invested his first term in the search of weapons of mass destruction that Saddam was supposed to have. When he left the American presidency it became known that said weapons rested underneath Wall Street. Then, on a date that was not a round figure either, the unilateral/centralised moment came to an end. Shortly afterwards Obama walked into the White House. It was the beginning of a multifocal/decentred decade in which the world’s organisation will not depend upon the war against terrorism, but on the relationships between the USA, the established superpower, and the emerging powers, beginning with China.
(The text is by Xavier Batalla and I have taken the liberty to translate and edit it myself.)

I prepare myself to greet 2010 and the new decade with a different kind of excitement to the one I experienced ten years ago, on 31st December 1999. This I feel, is a sober excitement, free of the naïve anxieties caused by a possible crash of all computers systems around the globe. A further difference is that back then, as far as I remember, I did not have this sense of waving goodbye. I was so fixated with what as to come that I did not fully register the period we were just leaving behind. Yes, we were also exiting a decade and arguably a century, but somehow I was so busy thinking about the new century that I did not take stock.
Things are different now. Quietly, I am taking stock. This, the decade that is about to slip through our fingers, has been my decade. I have the ‘honour’ to say that I was born in the early 1980, then, the remaining years until the end of the decade came and went in the stupor of childhood. After that, the 1990s came and went in much the same manner, this time muddled by the negotiations and awkwardness of adolescence. For instance, my only memory of the first invasion of Iraq remains this: my mother, standing in front of the television, ironing a pile of clothes, wearing a black and white keffiyeh (at that stage the Palestinian headscarf had not yet become a fashion accessory and retailed its militant aura). The rest is rather hazy.
So… this has been, finally, my decade: I have gone from being 17 to being 27. As far as periods go, this has undoubtedly been the most important to date in personal terms. The narrative of my life coils behind me like a used rope and I prepare for the next tug.

So this is it. And I have only four hours and three minutes left. And as the last twelve seconds of the year rush past I will push the metal bar and open a heavy door with an exit sign glowing above it…

PS: though of course, things are never as straightforward as that. It is peculiar to think that the new year and the new decade have already commenced, at least numerically, for millions of people living on the landmasses that stretch from India to New Zeeland. And on and on and on and on and on the Earth’s rotation continues...

Pablo

On the value of things...

So last Friday I managed to escape the weather nightmare at Gatwick and only suffered three hours delay. I was flying to Spain for the festive season after a year’s absence. And now…? Now I am in Alicante, a place I can only really call home because my family lives here and there is a room full of my stuff – old stuff. Anyway, last night I had a long and somewhat overdue chat with my mum: told her everything about i am small THE WORLD IS BIG. I don’t know what this kind of conversation is like for other fellow creatives out there, but for me it’s an important moment. Though my mother is certainly cultured she does not necessarily have a full understanding of the ins and outs of contemporary performance practice. Furthermore, though she is certainly supportive she is equally critical and analytical. And so, the moment I tell her about one of our new projects is always exciting because I know I will get a barrage of questions followed by her honest opinion. She was excited about i am small THE WORLD IS BIG and was impressed by its scope and scale, but that is not what I wanted to write about…

We were talking about world atlases and how we plan to use them for our project when she referred to them in passing as a ‘defunct technology’. That strange thought grabbed me. We live in the age of Google Earth and other such technological marvels. In fact this morning my brother showed me that Spain is the most ‘photographed’ country after the US, on Google Street View that is. So it is strange to think that I could give you my ‘home’ address and you could have a peek at my family’s house! Though to be honest I’m not sure how I feel about that… At any rate it was something I had not considered before: the possibility that good old world atlases printed in book form might already be a thing of the past. Where does that leave i am small THE WORLD IS BIG? At the moment I cannot say. Of course you don’t yet know what we intend to do with the atlases we have collected – and we have collected quite a few! (We already have atlases in English, German, Spanish, and we are still hoping to find more in Easter languages such as Arabic, Cantonese, Japanese, Hindi, and Mandarin.) For the time being all I will say is that we will be cannibalising these world atlases… So, if we accept the statement that printed world atlases are a ‘defunct technology’, does that mean they are becoming historic artefacts? Should we therefore treat them with more respect? I am not sure.
A telling moment came a few weeks ago when we received in the post an atlas I had bought on eBay. It was printed in 1917. When he saw it Rick put his foot down and was adamant that we could not cannibalise it. This, he said, was a precious thing… But why? Do we feel some strange nostalgia? What happens when we see Canada appear as the Dominion of Canada; or see that Pakistan, India and Bangladesh were united under British rule; or that Germany was once huge? I don’t know. Or is it rather that we value artefacts such as this 1917 world atlas because they have survived the relentless passage of time, because they offer us a window into the past?
After taking into account other, more practical considerations (such as the quality of the paper), Daisy and I compromised and agreed not to use the 1917 atlas in the same way as we intend to use the other ones. However, my mother’s comments put this into perspective and problematise our attitude. If all world atlases are ‘on their way out’ and will eventually be replaced by electronic copies, then does that not mean that even newer atlases (from the 1960’s to 1990’s say) are already in the process of becoming historic artefacts? Will we be cutting this process short by using them in our project? Or rather, do we mind that they will become different and transformed artefacts once we have cannibalised them? The whole question reminds me a little bit, though tangentially, of the discussion that ensued after the Chapman brothers (Jake and Dinos) ‘defaced’ or rather ‘rectified’ 80 of Goya’s famous prints (http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2003/mar/31/artsfeatures.turnerprize2003). Not that I think we are operating on the same level of course! I am aware that the world atlases we will be cannibalising are not precious works of art, but they do have a value in themselves. Hum… Many questions. Few answers. For now.

Pablo

PS: and if I don’t blog before the end of the week… Feliz Navidad!

YOU GOOGLE WE GOOGLE

Now, now....
Here is something interesting about the individual and the global...

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5489134.ece
(Thanks go to Ian Baird for sharing it with us.)

Pablo

It's not all child's play....

For those of you who do not know, I am a confessed addict to BBC iplayer. And there is nothing more tempting than a good documentary on BBC4. Last night I watched the second episode of Games Britannia. The series traces the development of games throughout British history, from mysterious druid board games to Monopoly and beyond. For those of you living in the UK, here is the link:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pf0rr/Games_Britannia_Monopolies_and_Mergers

And there is something I want to share with you… Bear with me.

Half way through last night’s episode presenter and historian Benjamin Woolley discussed the subtle, almost stealthy political role that games can play. I quote:
“In the years leading up to the First World War, in 1909 an apparently conventional race game was published. It was titled 'Pank a Squith', and it encoded a radical political message. It represented the escalating battle between Emmeline Pankhurst, leader of the women’s suffrage movement and her arch enemy Prime Minister Herbert Asquith. The aim of the game was to get a woman into that bastion of male oppression and exclusion, the Houses of Parliament. Her path was strewn with obstacles such as imprisonment and ridicule, and opportunities such as financial sponsorship and public support. Each player had to pick their way through this political mine field.”

Woolley then talked to Andrew Sheerin, the designer responsible for the satirical board game ‘War on Terror’ (http://www.waronterrortheboardgame.com/). I quote Sheerin:
“I think games are ideally suited for exploring current events, and particularly very difficult and complex subject matters. And it sets up a conflict around a table, but a safe conflict. You are not having a political debate, which can turn personal, but you are having a staged conflict and through that you come to a resolution.”

Now, why would I mention this to you? I am aware that we have not yet outlined the particular activities involved in i am small THE WORLD IS BIG (I am enjoying the mystery at the moment, so watch this space for more info in the future). The one thing I can tell you is that it is not anything close to a board game. However, I think that Sheerin’s statement is relevant to the project nonetheless. Through this piece we are tackling a number of current events that are certainly difficult and complex. So, who are the players? Well there will be a core of selected collaborators who will be engaging directly in the activity. That said, the audience will not be relegated to simply spectate, but will be able to ‘join in the game’ in different ways. So, what is the game? As I said above we don’t want to give much away just yet. What I can tell you is that it will not follow a conventional set up like the games discussed in Games Britannia or the games that Sheerin is referring to. With that I mean that the rules of engagement are not based on a conventional structure where two or more parties directly confront each other (as it might be in chess or Trivial Pursuit). In our ‘game’ the conflict is not between the different ‘players’. Instead the conflict lies in the tension between the activity and the time dedicated to it. In a way, i am small THE WORLD IS BIG is a race against the clock. The different ‘players’ (collaborators and audience alike) will directly and indirectly engage in an communal activity that is set to take place over a finite duration. Jointly, as a team, we have to get it done –or rather, as much as we can. How much will we achieve? Will we ‘save ourselves’ in time? What role will you play? i am small THE WORLD IS BIG is a challenge to us all, it is a safe space we can use to practice/rehearse/play-out many of our current challenges and conflicts. Will we arrive at any resolutions?

Well, that’s up to each and every one of us…

Pablo

SPACE

It’s official! Dates and location have been confirmed! (thank you Dee)
i am small THE WORLD IS BIG will take place on Friday 26th and Saturday 27th of February 2010 in the Senate Building at the University of Kent. We are terribly excited that the project will go ahead as we had envisioned at the start (i.e. using the Senate and lasting two days). Why insist on this particular space, why this particular duration? The answer for us, I would say, might be summarised by simply stating: form and content.

Let me start with the Senate and perhaps later I will get to the duration. For those of you who might not know it, this building is situated in the neuralgic centre of the University of Kent’s Canterbury campus: in front of the library, Eliot and Rutherford Colleges at either side, and a stone throw’s away from The Registry and the Gulbenkian Theatre. This central position, as well as its name, reflects its role: a symbolic seat of power. The Senate’s large upstairs room serves as the meeting place of various university governing bodies (for instance the Humanities’ Faculty Board will be convening there on the day before our project take place). It is a space where statements are made, discussions take place, votes are cast and counted, and decisions are arrived at. I am trying to remember my own impressions of the building whilst I was an undergraduate. It’s proving to be difficult. I had certainly not been inside the Senate, nor did I have any actual knowledge of what happened inside it, but what I find most confusing is that although I was a conscientious student I seemed to lack any curious desire to find out, to sneak in (surprisingly the building is open throughout the day and it would not have been hard to take a peek). So in my mind at least, the Senate was simply an amorphous presence on campus which I loosely associated with power, its mystery and inaccessibility.
So how did we come to choose the Senate as our location? As a principle, when we start a new project we attempt not to get bogged down in practicalities, allowing the concepts to develop freely before exploring how they will be realised. However, as it the case with much of our work, this issue is not as simple and linear as that; the chicken and the egg, the snake biting its own tail. There is a moment -difficult to pinpoint- where the core concept of a project meets the various practicalities involved in its realisation and begins to be shaped by them. Location, of course, is the first of such on the list. Once i am small THE WORLD IS BIG had begun to take shape and the project’s core had been established we reached this moment. Where should it take place? Schengen Smile, the piece we devised last February for WorldFest 2009 took place in a series of teaching spaces: a corridor and two seminar rooms. The starkness of these spaces contributed to the bureaucratic atmosphere we were creating and so the marriage between the site and the piece was easy. Now thou, our desire to produce a more ambitious project was coupled with our conceptual interest in facilitating a coming together. The small and out-of-the-way rooms which had been the setting for the solitary journey the audience took in Schengen Smile would not do. We had to upgrade to a space that was larger, more ‘important’. There are only a few such spaces at the University of Kent’s Canterbury Campus: the large dining halls in Eliot and Rutherford Colleges and the Senate Building’s upstairs meeting room. And so the decision was made. With its substantial dimensions, central location and powerful associations the Senate presented itself as the ideal location.

And what will be doing in the building? I will leave that for later. For now it will suffice to say we will open up the building, inviting individuals to come together in a joint effort. In a way, the event will not be that dissimilar from the Senate’s normal use: meeting, discussing, deciding. We intend to occupy the entire building, transform it, and offer the audience a unique experience. As with Schengen Smile we are considering the possibility of creating a coherent route through the building, though in this case it will be multifocal and more complex. In regards to transformation, well, we are yet to find a specific relationship to the site. Will we ruthlessly colonise? Will we sympathetically stay within the vernacular of the building? That is, of course, only the first stage of our space-induced dilemmas. This search for conceptual clarity will then inevitably be followed by a series of practical negotiations. Please, please let us move the furniture around. Please, please let us use bluetack... When last year we had to relocate Lost In Translation from Canterbury city centre to Liverpool’s Victorian St. George’s Hall these practical negotiations resulted in significant formal changes to the piece. With that experience under our belts I hope that the process it more efficient this time. Fingers crossed.

Last Thursday Dee (Gulbenkian Theatre Director) kindly took us to the Senate. Since it was our first visit together and we did not have much time we could not go into much depth. But it is workable. We were excited by the motion sensitive sliding doors to the foyer and the red walls of the downstairs rooms. We were excited about the dramatic walk up the stairs. We were excited about the little square space just outside the upstairs meeting room and we were excited by the latter’s circular shape and significant dimensions. We were excited by the ten second lift ride and the feeling of disorientation when reaching the ground floor. We were not so excited by the artwork on display (sculpture of elephants and corporate-looking paintings downstairs, and portraits of past university Deans upstairs). But it is workable.

On a different, yet space-rated note, last Tuesday Rick and I met Fiona Watt (http://www.fionawatt.com/). She is a scenographer Cathy Westbrook (always the fairy godmother) had put us in touch with. We had a chat with Fiona about our company, past works and our current piece. She seemed enthusiastic and described i am small THE WORLD IS BIG as ‘life affirming’. Though at this stage we are designing the event on our own time will tell, and this might become the first project where we collaborate with a fellow creative. For the time being we have to sort things in our own heads, and Fiona’s questions were particularly useful because they pushed us towards clarity. We might have a few more informal chats and if a true collaboration is to take place it will do so after February’s presentation. As I said, time will tell.

Pablo

PS: We intend to take i am small THE WORLD IS BIG further, developing it beyond its first presentation next February. We want to take it elsewhere and tour. What about the location then? Ideas are beginning to flow and conversations are taking place. I wouldn’t want to give too much away just yet. We will keep you posted.

wow... i really am small

It has been a month and a half since we last blogged. My how time flies.
What have we been doing? well.......
Learning to stitch, looking for stitchers, making money and looking for money, reading and writing, listening and looking. That has kept us pretty busy.
However, Dear Blog, we have not forgotten you and indeed may have missed our regular little tet-a-tet. the regular mental emtetic, the mind enema that you gratefully serve....

I am fircely aware of how small i am and how short my reach is. We have been scouring the globe for Atlases in various foreign languages... how hard can that be?
There is an awfully long way between here and China, more than a simple afternoon stroll! in fact it would take weeks of strolling. despite the long ang gangly nature of my legs.
Its not such a long way to Germany (where my better half's parents have been visiting the Christmas markets this past week) Even that is a fair walk for my pins!
it takes me around twenty mins to get into town, a further twenty to get to the other side (Wincheap, say). i wonder how far i could go in a day, a week, a month.
How long would i have to walk to get to a point where i have no relation to my surroundings? What would it be about my surroundings that means i have no relation?
Can you negotiate ebay in Mandarin? me neither! i cant even negotiate it in languages closer to home, French, German, Spanish... Thank goodness for Pablo!
So i have instead fixed my focus closer to home... right on my doorstep instead.
I can reach to there... just.
Its funny how much there is and can be out there when you go looking for it!
People with pep, get up and go.... organiser, performers, writers and artists of every hue. All so close to home!!! in the words of Balloo the bear... "if you look under the rocks and plants and take a glance at the fancy ants... and maybe try a few" (obviously not in the literal sense here).
i may be small ant but i am small along with the myriad of other ants on my doorstep and that makes me feel a little bit better about myself and a little lesss scared of the world at large!

Rick

What happens when you consider “the world”
…That view from the space shuttle where the Earth looks peaceful, beautiful, arcs of harmless white cloud?
… maps?
… endless stretches of ocean, of desert, bustling cities?
… Cars, trains, planes traversing the expanse of it all disseminating pollutants and choking as they go?
... Farmers tilling the land?

Do you remember that bit in “The Fifth Element” when Milla Jovovich see’s all those images of war, genocide, cold killings, atomic mushroom clouds, and cant see anything good in mankind?
She says “everything you create, you use to destroy”
Is this really true?
I hope that Bruce Willis’ dry “Yeah, we call it human nature” is nothing but a negative reflection on a narrow base of evidence or we might as well all go mad, right?
But as he points out later… “…there are things worth saving”

That’s what I want to ponder now… “What is worth saving?”
I don’t just mean your Mum or Dad (though I don’t underrate their import) What is worth saving for the benefit of mankind?
We, as members of an international community, are required by necessity to work together to build and preserve for future generations. There are always references to “building a better world” but what would it be like to re-make the world according to our own individual priorities or whims?
What would we chose to keep? Would be separate warring neighbours? Bring together dissparate peoples?
There are currently 890 Unesco World Heritage Sites around the world, declared as such because of either their natural or cultural Outstanding Universal Value. There are over 4,000 Sites of Special Scientific Interest in the UK. (over half of which have been declared to be of international significance).
It seems to me that these have things covered on the “landmarks of history and science” plane of things...
But what of you and me…
6 Pubs are closing a weeks in the UK, sweetshops where you can buy real aniseed balls and chocolate mice from big glass jars are the exception rather than the rule these days… bowing out to supermarkets and chain-stores stocking international chocolate giants like Mars, Cadburys…
But look how many empty stores there are now… standing empty… could we stuff them full of jars of cherry drops, resuscitate Woolworths?
How would you change the world to make it a better place?

This world of ours is in a state of constant flux. Andrew Marr (of “Britain from Above” fame) recently said in an interview that the primary experience of the latter half of the 20th Century was one of acceleration. Of mankind’s readjustment to a world where the world we live in now is less and less like that of our forbearers and is certainly little like the one our children and grandchildren will know…
How do we then negotiate the things we miss and the things that are yet to be when sometimes it simply feels like they happen or cease to happen all around us?

Remember It’s a small world after all!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIabgPX14R4

Internationalism it is...

So, after an initial research phase we are beginning to shape our new project. Because at this stage we are still throwing ideas around we have far more questions than set answers. On the one hand I could not resist the opportunity to give you a little glimpse into what is going on. On the other hand I recognise that the project is very much in its embryonic state, and therefore quite vulnerable. At the same time we would not like to 'give it away' just yet... In an attempt to reconcile these disparate desires I have produced the document you see below. It is deliberately and cheekily edited, but I hope it wets your appetite...

Pablo

What have we got to be scared of?

So we’re all international now then… in theory only a step away from almost anywhere in the world… or, if pushed, we can resort to running to our neighbours and asking for protection, safety, a new home.

How manageable will this be in the future… what happens when land-space starts to run out? When resources run out? Water? Oil? Gas?

The Leading Global “community” jumped from being a club of 8 to being a club of 20... Does this mean the global community has enlarged or has it just started making enough noise that it cant simply be ignored? Who should be in charge of this world where ever more nations are pulling in ever more directions… is it possible to hope that simply because more people are entering into a dialogue, that this dialogue will achieve something…

The Possibility of Hope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO4aH5ZSb_o&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCBOCp3WDcM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSO4dCOR6RM&feature=related

Appologies that this blog is a little moody… more upbeat next time! Promise!
AC

Negotiating internationalism

Well it has been an interesting few months in the world of Accidental Collective. A time of taking stock and looking to the future.
In the last 3 years Accidental Collective have been committed to adding to the creative milieu that is ever increasing in Kent, and looking forward, we are excited about some of the things brewing in the near future… watch this space for more on that in the coming months.
Our place within the local environs of the county we call home is one we are proud to have achieved and one we continue to strive for. But what of the wider world? Are we committed to engaging with and adding to the creative and intellectual diaspora..? Interestingly, yes.

We have had some thoughts..

It is easy in the fast paced modern world to be aware of being simply one person in an ever growing, complex population.
Need an example?
How about the growth of Polish supermarkets popping up in every town and city in the land…
How about the Lisbon treaty, upon which the future of the European Union as a working effective supranational organisation hangs?
How about the threat posed by failed states like Somalia? Potential breeding grounds for international terrorism, extremism and outright lawlessness?
Be aware, Accidental Collective in no way intend to scare-monger on these points, oh no! However we draw attention to them as a point of order when considering the breadth and depth of problems out there when considering the world beyond Kent and look out into the world and its inevitably international scale.
Some internationalism is on our doorstep and is something we are reminded of by simply walking down our local high streets, others are things to be considered only when planning a cruise (hoping Somali pirates don’t try to hijack your liner)
Others, perhaps, we should have a grander awareness of but have maybe been denied. Either by governments who fear defeat if they open debate to national referendum or maybe only by our own indifference to the subject.

Now, such ‘lofty’ socio-political thoughts are relatively randomly singled out here, however… with such issues out there in the world, issues that need solving, where does that leave us, each of us, as individuals. How can we each go about tackling such issues as immigration, terrorism, international responsibility…?
What follows is by no means a definitive answer.
Maybe the place to start is with the individual. The tools we have, develop and grow through our daily lives are something we can take out into the wider world. These tools and signifiers help us identify ourselves and those around us.
“Human social life is unimaginable without some means of knowing who others are and some sense of who we are. Since we cannot rely on our sense of smell or our animal non-verbals (though these are not insignificant), one of the first things we try to do when we meet a stranger is attempt to locate them on our social maps, to identify them” (Social Identity - Richard Jenkins. Ch 1, Pge 5)
So we look for aspects of identity we recognise in that person… familial, local, regional, national, continental, human, political, social, cultural, linguistic, experimental, historic, genetic/physical, factual… anything upon which we can build a commonality.
With commonalities established we can move forward with our cosmopolitan existences. We can be comfortable with enough of those around us to exist with the elements of our own identity (even those that don’t exactly match up exactly to those of others) “hanging out”.
“Individuality and the sense of freedom that flows from it, is the natural basis of “Democracy”. In a democratic regime, relations between individuals are commonly regulated by social contact. (Atomised - Michel Houellebecq, pge 89)
This social contact is important. By contacting others and sharing the individual social/cultural elements of our identities those elements can take on a life of their own, cross pollinating from person to person when applicable or staying put when not.

How wonderfully utopian, I hear you cry. Imagining a world where the best of all will win out without there ever being friction, upset or even violence. On the contrary, friction, upset and violence is seemingly a natural path for human relations to take at some point or another… however… it is much more manageable and negotiable on a small scale than it is on a large scale. Managing two peoples differences is easier than managing those of two groups of one million people. It is harder to find those commonalities when one million people become a faceless mass (I cant even imagine what one million people would look like) and thus become un-negotiable on a singular, personal scale. So we find our commonalities and differences through hearsay, limited and distorted contact…
So what are we suggesting with this rambling spread taking us from our commitment to Kent out into the world of social negotiation, international peacekeeping, and identity theory?
We’re not sure… yet. But it seems that starting small. Starting within to the immediate without promises a way in…

Accidental Collective’s next new work is beginning, and here is an element of that beginning.
Thoughts on internationalism???
All welcome!

Tuesday (Open Day...)

Today we opened our (so far) tightly sealed rehearsal doors and let two very generous outsiders in. I think we were all a little apprehensive; it’s always difficult when you make and nurture material to hold it out and see if it stands on its own two feet. So after coffee, cigarettes, a croissant and a warm up our visitors were upon us. Those in attendance were Rosie Klich, a lecturer at the University of Kent, Richard Turney, a close friend of ours and avid spectator of our work and Lindsay Sparkes, a drama student at the University of Kent studying directing.

We had decided yesterday to show them a cross section of Postscript as it stands at the moment, including pieces of material we were happy and confident with and others that were much rougher. We ran through the lamp choreography (which has clearly become the beginning or one of the beginnings, in our minds), the lovers, the telephone, the dance and lastly, the writers. In the name of clarity and the joy of being concise I shall summarise the feedback we received and the discussions we had with Rosie and Richard.

On a very positive note they loved our use of darkness and said this is a unique aspect of the work. The solos and duos which happen in a single light were thought to be very emotive and captivating for an audience and Rosie said this is what she really likes about our work. Concerns and questions which were raised included the issue of sight lines, we will be performing on a thrust stage and as much of the action is very small we need to be aware of what the audience can and can’t see. I think the most important piece of constructive criticism we received is that we can afford to slow down and take our time with all of the material. Overly concerned with creating pace we were, without realising, rushing the actions, the words and the lights instead of enjoying what we are doing and allowing the audience the time to enjoy it to. We entered into quite a lengthy discussion about the shape of the show, the beginning, the ending and the overall effect we wanted to create. All incredibly useful stuff really. So a big THANK YOU to our viewers today, Rosie, Richard and Lindsay.

It was of great benefit and we entered the afternoon with energy and optimism and a drive to make things better. The realisation we could afford to slow things down and play more made a huge difference. This afternoon we tried to run pieces of material together to see how and whether they fit together. Surprisingly (?) it went well; the show is starting to take shape which feels really good. It is still a case of trial and error though, putting things together, taking them apart, tightening and polishing. This is where we will continue tomorrow. And who knows, by the end of tomorrow, we may well have the show, in an order, that works and that feels right.

On a super positive note our lunch was interrupted today with some incredibly good news, it has been confirmed that we will be performing at The Quarterhouse in Folkestone on Saturday 6th June!!!!!!

I shall leave things there for today.

Laura

Crunch Day at the Beginning of Crunch Week. Crunchy.

Today didn’t feel like a Monday.

I began my day stupidly early this morning in the office. I nearly jumped out of my skin when Rick walked in. “What are you doing here?” A tale of two Obsessives unable to stop working on this project…

Today was a day. It was a tough, important day. And I am shattered, personally. I am going to try writing this stream of consciousness style, to avoid staying up ‘till one o’clock restructuring it like a blog martyr…

Today was the beginning of ‘No More New Material Week’. It marks the beginning of a week the focus of which is revisiting and honing the material made last week. We also have to find a structure, i.e. build the show. It is therefore quite scary. Enough playing. Let’s make a show. Eek. It’s like, if this were a relationship, last week the show and us were dating, this week we are meeting each other’s parents and moving in with each other. Next week we’ll be married with a mortgage! Perhaps tired Daisy blogging is a tad dubious…

In terms of said structure, we have a plan. Rick, in his role as Director, has suggested that we begin to run one piece of material into another piece when it seems to make sense, or seems logical/feels right, or when linking strands (conceptual or practical) become apparent… (Perhaps this seems an obvious idea, but it doesn’t always feel that straight forward when faced with the very real act of putting a piece together…). This seems an excellent idea to attempt to avoid the pitfall of staring at bits of paper on the floor and going cross-eyed trying to structure a show.

However, today we revisited all the material we generated last week. This took longer than anticipated. In fact, it took all day. Some of the material was recalled pretty spot on and some of it will need a lot more work – inevitably. But, it proved a.) that there is a show in there somewhere and b.) that we can still remember it. Hurrah! Rick has filmed it (mistakes and all) and is reviewing it tonight to diagnose potential issues…

Tomorrow morning we have some people coming in to offer an ‘outside eye’ – which is something we try to incorporate into our practice. Devising can become very insular and it is a worry that we may become to ‘inward-looking’ and lose sight of the material. It is however, always a terrifying prospect. Letting someone into your rehearsals is an incredibly difficult thing; it’s very exposing (and therefore ultimately very good for you too…). They will hopefully feedback and we will get a sense of how people other than us perceive the work. Laura will tell you all about it tomorrow, I’m sure.

I’m afraid my head is filled with practical things. Invites to go out. Press release to complete. Junk shop tables and chairs to source and transport magically to North Finchley…?!

I may leave this here, if you don’t mind? I’m sure I’ll think of a million things I should have reflected on when I’m lying in bed…

Daisy x

Ah.... Sunday

Since the beginning of our current research and development period we had agreed that today would be a turning point. Throughout this week we have been generating material. The emphasis so far has been on interrogating this material, and exploring ways in which it could be shaped. From now on, for the remaining week, we will concentrate on polishing the various ‘sections’, experimenting with the possible order, running, running, and re-running the various pieces that will make up a whole. So today, as I said, was a turning point: the last day we had allowed ourselves to generate any material; our last chance to just ‘try things out’ for the sake of it.

Surprisingly there was not the flourish of activity that might have been expected. Rather, we found it slightly difficult to identify any ideas we had not already explored. This, however, is not necessarily a bad thing. We have clearly been working hard. Gestures: tick! Interruptions: tick! Fragmented stories: tick! Lamp choreography: tick! Solo and duo actions at the table: tick! Etc, etc: tick! There were, nevertheless, a few things we still had to test: walkie-talkies, dictaphones, and frantic poses. So we fought the typically sedate Sunday mood and got to work.

Originally I had thought that the walkie-talkies might serve as a divide to breach the stage-auditorium divide, but after much consideration we decided that any such obvious attempt would appear as a cheap trick and register highly on the naffometer. Did the walkie-talkies still have a place in the piece then? Well, last night Amber (my housemate) was watching the classic 1972 “Super Fly”, which got me thinking that amongst the various stories that had already find their way into the piece we did not have any allusion to cop/detective plots. The walkie-talkies, with their characteristic beeps and tinny sound proved to be ideal to achieve this. ‘Alpha Romeo 379, come in. Alpha Romeo 379, are you in position?’
The use of dictaphones was one of the elements which we had experimented with during Postscript Mk1. Then, it served as a vehicle to deliver a series of first lines taken from a number of novels. How could they be used now? During this last week we have been exploring how narratives might be fragmented and collide against each other. Could the dictaphones become another means to express this? We tried, all at once; a cacophony. Too much perhaps? Rather than being used in a section all of their own, could the dictaphones instead become a through line, a recurring theme (such as the object-based actions, or our established vocabulary of gestures)? Only running the various pieces we have generated, side by side, in various permutations, will tell.

This coming week, it is now clear, will be crucial. If I may use the visual arts as an analogy perhaps… So far we have made preliminary sketches, played around with colours and tones, layered textures and materials… Soon we will face the white canvas. What stays? What is thrown out? What goes where?

Pablo

I forgot it was Saturday

Today was fun! It was Daisy’s birthday, which meant we had cake… twice! It seems that sometimes cake can help creativity in a mystical, magical way. Or perhaps the sugar rush coming just after lunch meant we bounced around a lot in the afternoon.
Either way it did the trick, helping us find something “else” in the material.
We keep returning to how stories are told, retold, found in other tales, stories and memories.
What happens if we float them across the stage? What happens if, in this hinterland, two voices breathe life into and drop. A princess in a tower, a man in a prison cell pacing round and round in a circle in his cell, no actually it’s just a man in a room, not a room a park and its not a man it’s a girl…and she’s crying, no… laughing and she see’s a man across the room…
If there are no true characters and only whiffs of the author's imagination, why do we still recognise them to some extent another?

We’d played today with a phone-call.
What does a phone-call mean? what does a phone-call mean when two people reach for the receiver, what happens if we show you two alternatives, what happens when you just see a flash?
What is the difference between the putting down of a phone and the slamming of a phone. What does it mean when someone else takes the phone and hangs it up gently, softly even, consolingly? Or is it maternally? Protectively?
Its interesting the difference that gender can play in the reading of images, two boys, two girls, two girls one boy, a boy and a girl? Is this reading based on our experience? On received wisdom? Something innate?

One of the most Zen like activities about this show are the lamps we have been playing with since we started this piece, was the lamps. I think the half darkness in the studio, using these floor-bound lamps sometimes makes us forget its daytime. I forgot it was Saturday, I think West Ham drew with Villa and apparently Red Bull are on two of the top three starting spots for tomorrows Chinese Grand prix… Today we got into something that Accidental Collective secretly like. Choreography. One lamp, two lamps, how do you bring an audience into a world , a abstract world where writers and stories, form and function can meet.
What does a lamp do? Light the darkness? Brighten things up? Illuminate? Expose? In a kind of link to the lives of our prehistoric forebears do we associate it with warmth? Comfort? Safety? Or is it reminiscent of archetypal images of sitting around the campfire and bedtime stories.
Two lamps, three lamps, four lamps. On and Off, flashes and co-ordinated displays. It can be really challenging to find a piece of material that comes out of rules and trial and error and find that it is something that will require practice, concentration and trust in each other.
Soon we’re going to stop generating new material and work to hone, build and structure the different fragments, flashes moments and stories. Eek!

Rick

Fourth Day... (Friday 17th April)

So here we are so soon, the fourth day. A third of the way through now. The weather is miserable and we are rehearsing in a white box that hums, strange things may happen today...
The video camera is out and we film the gesture tales, then gingerly sit round the TV and watch it back. Its good but can be better, as with everything, we can always push it further. Setting a trigger to speed up we try it again, film it again, watch it again. It is better again. There is a moment where three of us step forward and pause; it seems we have found the climax in this section, the moment where it needs to become something else. Who knows what that will be? We leave this, until tomorrow, it has become the way we start our working day.

Back to the orchestra today. Is there anything there? Will it fit conceptually? Sure it’s fun to do, but is it exciting to watch? We shorten it today and adopt poses which contradict the text. We run it and it feels good, but is it enough? Will it make the final cut?

Break, it’s still raining.

Our collection of lamps for Postscript Mk 1 have been housed in bags for the last six months but today we took them out, plugged them and switched them on. And off, and then on again. We spent a lot of time playing and just seeing what happened. This is always a good place to start. Silence, gestures, remnants of bedtime stories, snippets of action, the reappearance of the dog mask, what did we want to do? Nothing set in stone but plenty of thoughts, ideas, and beginnings to explore and develop. Lots of questions about what we want to repeat, what we want to show, how much do we want to give to the audience?

Some new stories were bought to the table today, Rick went first and read his aloud recording it on to the Dictaphone. A story of a naughty troll who comes good, a classic tale of rebirth. Then we turned all the lights out, as if going to bed, and listened to the story through the slightly fuzzy recording. It felt good to just be listening to the words but we want to subvert the story, maybe with an interruption, maybe the use of 'ping turn the page'. Again this felt like the beginning of a piece of material, definitely something to return to.

Lunch, more rain.

Then we turned to horror. My simple tale of a dark house on a hill, a ghostly figure and a naive man who would meet a messy end. Pablo and I assumed the main roles. With bulbs in hand we played with setting the scene, pulling faces in the light, hamming up the horror and telling the story. This section was very much about the details, exactly where the light should be held so you could see my hand but not my face. Tweaking and re-working to make it perfect, maybe a new genre was just was we need to keep things exciting. And make things a little scary!

Late afternoon proved a little trickier in terms of finding material or stumbling across something that was conceptually clear. We found a few moments to start with...the dog mask re-appeared in a tender dance with a light bulb. Should this be juxtaposed with another fragment? Suddenly Daisy was on stage, moving provocatively lighting up her body and whistling 'Blue Moon'. There were lots of questions about the story behind this action, is it the girl with the rose, is it a new story? How do we want to make a connection? We concentrated on choreographing Burlesque style movement for Daisy, it started to come together.

That was where we left the day, as I said it felt like a day of beginnings. Plenty to be working with, plenty to explore, plenty to develop. It will all come together, but not yet, its only day four.

Laura

Postscript (ArtsDepot) Poster

Click on me to see me big!

Third day... (Wednesday 15th April)

Hello third day of rehearsals. Hello rubbish campus coffee before we start and gentle chit-chat as we warm up. Hello linoleum-floored studio, smelling ever so slightly of feet and junk shops. Feeling good to begin a day of Postscript-building.

Hello a day of two halves:

To begin, we revisit a new piece of material from yesterday. Lines have been learnt. Rhythms are more familiar. The focus is palpable. Not yet there, but on its way…

Hello lamps, old friends. Extension cables plugged in. Bulbs spring to life – a field of lights in the dark. Workers out. Black out. A table, two chairs, a lamp. Rick and myself. Laura and Pablo place objects on the table in front of us. A miniature playground - touch, feel, play. A music box, a bottle, a piece of red fabric, a stethoscope (also the binoculars and knife; which are played with but later rejected).

Lights up. We play. That doesn’t work, that could work, there’s something there, try that again, and again in like this…

A story begins to form from the moment we both reach for the bottle at the same time… Try another permutation – we both reach for the bottle and I get there first. And again, we both reach, but he gets it and removes it. What is the story of each version? Which do we want to tell?

Lift the lid. The music box plays. I want to dance like the music box dancer (who incidentally isn’t actually there, just the stump where she once was…). Red fabric over my face. I stand on the chair and spin like a music box doll. I think of the part in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang where Truly Scrumptious pretends to be a wind up doll…

We then revisit a piece of material from the work-in-progress of Postscript, also using Rick and myself (archetype - ‘the Lovers’). Are there correlations between this and the new music box fragment? We impose the red material on it. (A connection, an echo, a particle spilt out and lodged in a different story? Or is it the same story?) Permutations: the fabric on the floor as they lean in to embrace; the material on her head removed as she turns away from the embrace; the fabric on her head removed as she reaches away from the embrace… It’s a triptych. But in the world of Postscript, nothing is viewed as a ‘unit’. It needs interrupting. We consider spoken text. We consider story-tapes (‘ping’ to indicate when to turn the page). We consider choose-your-own-adventure books (Turn to page 24 if you want to see Bill meet the monster, or page 50 if you want to see him turn back to the forest). But ultimately, we agree that what should interrupt this triptych may be decided or discovered later. For now what interrupts it is one of those helpful conceptual question marks…(?We like those?)

Hello Afternoon.

An afternoon of Important Discussions.

Bloggable? Blog-worthy? I’m not sure. Let me summarise.

We needed to sit down and brain-storm/mind-map/’bleurgh’ about some of the Big Postscript Questions. Not in order to answer them (yet) but just to ‘have them out’.

What does Postscript look like? Set. Props. Costume. Lighting. We each have a turn (‘In MY head, it looks like this…’ etc). Some different ideas, but essentially we seem to have the same general idea of what the ‘final product’ might ‘be’… Watch this space…

And also – The Audience? The question we knew was implicit in tackling this project. The work-in-progress of Postscript was performed in a small bar, at the audience’s table. The ArtsDepot performance will be in an auditorium, on a stage. We’re adapting/distilling the show in its essence but the audience experience will be entirely different, as dictated by the environment. Is it possible to give them a taste of the intimacy that was created in the work-in-progress in a totally different venue? The material is beginning to stand up alone, so what purpose does ‘implicating’ the audience(through proximity, intimacy and direct involvement and interaction), as we did before, actually serve (if it is even possible?…

Today we achieved something small – a fascinating fragment of the show was formed. And we also faced up to something big – the questions that demand to be addressed through this process, in order to make this project everything we want it to be.

However, I haven’t gone away from today phased, or even scared. I’m really, really excited.

Daisy x

Second day...

Today, straight to it. No show and tell; no talking; get up and go. Our shared need to ‘do’ perhaps arising from slight aches and pains. It is humbling to realise our bodies are somewhat out of practice, and even better to discover a desire to warm-up property. Oh, the absolute joy of feeling the machinery moving again, of being back in the studio.

We take the morning and early afternoon to revisit the material generated yesterday. Whilst working on the previous version of Postscript I remember Daisy looking to explore ways of layering and texturing: movement, voice, text… Back then this was a sort of afterthought to our initial rehearsals; now, somehow, it is here from the beginning: gestures we used in the work-in-progress, a tut, a cry, a laugh, get up, sit down, fragmentary stories told in 15 lines. What is special about our work today is the process of testing and re-testing endless permutations. Not only are we polishing and clarifying the material, but we are also trying to explore the possible rhythms within it as if it were a musical coda (build, climax, unexpected pause, slow decline towards the end). It is not merely a question of movement and voice, but a conceptual one too. As we move between gestures, getting up to delivering our broken stories, the narratives collide, chase each other, and depart.

In the afternoon we unpack. Funny how the basics for a show can neatly fit into a suitcase and a few bags. In front of us, a collection of familiar objects: the dog mask, the rose, the wine glass, the knife, the cards… We also unpack, metaphorically speaking. I must confess that I was somewhat nervous about returning to the work-in-progress. Perhaps due to the uncertainty of how we would feel about after all this time, perhaps due to a misconstrued lack of confidence in having the right tools to interrogate this old material. However, these apprehensions evaporate, and seem rather petty, as soon as we get to work. It feels right. Whilst revisiting the work-in-progress’ table-actions we find ourselves thinking, again, of archetypes and the most basic plots. It seems that after all they will not be relegated to a hinterland. We are finding our way towards a fully formed question (something which we now understand to be of utmost importance for the work). Something - something… how we read fragments to make up a story… something – something… the power of recognisable symbols… From the start we were aware that the piece had to be tidied up, conceptually speaking. However, it is exciting to be able to take our time: treading gently, investigating every nook and cranny, considering alternative options, trying out every possibility. Somehow, as we sat in the darkness picking apart our table-actions, something at the very back of my mind pondered the differences between our process now and when we created our work-in-progress. This time it is more measured. We are looking closer; digging deeper. Cut, paste, rewind, slow play, pause, fast forward… With this comes an awareness of our creative mechanisms in pulling stories apart or extracting their most basic components. For instance, during our previous phase of rehearsals we found it difficult to generate material under the rubric of a defined story or even a genre. We simply could not operate as freely under such weight. Now, with the help of an understanding of the seven basic plots, we are able to think more associatively. We seem to prefer broader brush strokes; a more impressionistic performance mode. As for our methodology, the quasi-mathematical yet instinctual approach we began exploring last autumn is slowly taking shape. This is our practice. And it rocks!

Pablo

First day...

First day…
There’s always things in life that don’t go exactly to plan.
Rehearsals are one of them.
However sometimes the smallest change of plan can lead to unexpected places.
We started with a little show and tell. it’s a nice way to get ideas and thoughts out and moving. Edward Steichen and Cindy Sherman’s photography. Filmic and iconographic images.
We thought of the way that the moments we found for Postscript Mk1 served the same purpose. Maybe now we’re looking at how we can explore those moments, unpack what they’re made of, what stories they tell.
We talked about Booker’s “The Seven Basic Plots”. Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, The Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy, Rebirth… Is that all there is? Is every narrative just clouded by archetypes of places, ideas, symbols and people?
We wondered if the show we are now setting out to re-make was a visual attempt at Flash fiction… Or a set of Six word stories now begging to be made into Twelve word stories, No-word-but-myriad-of-image-stories... Or perhaps we’ll just be taking these archetypes and putting them in a hinterland space together…
High flown talk indeed. But that’s what first days seem to need…
My carefully written rehearsal plan went out of the window as our props collection was unexpectedly locked in a University building over the bank holiday. No props complicates the first line of my carefully written rehearsal plan. “Unpack and look at all props, lamps, etc…”
Oh well, we just jumped straight in anyway.

Games where we try limit our actions to all but a few like walking, running, jumping, sitting. We found Classic FM on the radio and you can play the game for quite a while and everything goes quite Zen. Add rules where any actions are allowed, try telling a story, trying to create an inner logic. We tried imposing stories to try to enact, but that didn’t work. But when we thought less about particular stories but simply of the Seven Basic Plots with their each particular set of associations the Zen returned…
Sometimes its quite striking when a single image can give you and instant read of the story behind it. Cinderella spotted trying on the glass slipper, Grendel and Beowulf fighting it out, The Very hungry Caterpillar chomping his way through the week…

We returned to some old material we wanted to play about with. We expanded split seconds into whole minutes then cut them in two, which half of the story is important? What happens if one person tells the first half, the other; the second, and a split second in-between by a third. What does that do to the story?
This got us through the rest of the day… what happens when you tell a story in a series of flashes each minutes apart? What happens when four people try to express one story with no words and only 4 actions between them? How much can we give with a limited palette?
What happens if that limited palette is orchestrated by a conductor, baton and all..?

It seems like there’s a lot of questions today…
I think I might have to relax my rehearsal plan a little.

Rick

Tomorrow and Beginnings (new ones)

Hello All.

Tomorrow, Accidental Collective return to the rehearsal studio. They are taking POSTSCRIPT (as it stands) with them. When they emerge from the rehearsal period in two weeks' time, POSTSCRIPT will be a different (better, exciting, pulse-quickening) performance and ready to show the world (or rather, the audience that will hopefully come to Artsdepot, North Finchley on the 3rd May... http://www.artsdepot.co.uk)

We will endeavour to keep you updated on our progress over the next two weeks. So if you fancy a sneaky peak at our creative processes and our reflections on those processes, do have a look on here. You know us, no holds barred!

All the best,

Goodnight,

Daisy xxx

Accidental get ACE funding

Hi All blog followers out there!

This is what happened, on the day, as it happened.

Rick has been in charge of emails for the company recently. He tries to be on the ball, though feels like a fish out of water sometimes. (We all have our crosses to bare)
Imagine his surprise when, having updated our potential ACE funders (to whom we'd submitted an application in early January) that we had confirmd an exciting performance date with ArtsDepot, the person who'd been dealing with our application replied quite quickly.

Now, Rick tries not to be a wishful thinker. Nor does he like to be prey to superstition. However, there was a moment between the fateful click of the "open mail" button and the mail actually opening where a flash of "this could be the email that confirms it" and the answer "dont be silly" and a third voice from deep in the depths of the brain says "you'll curse it by thinking about it" answered by a fourth voice or possibly one of the first two voices saying "shut up! dont think about it"
The email was open....
The gist follows...
"Thanks for letting us know, Thats great news (about the fact we're going to perform at Arts Depot)
We'd like to confirm that we've awarded your funding, paperwork's in the post"

Rick gasped, he couldn't breathe.
Rick needed a cigarette.
Rick couldn't get hold of any other Accidentals, so called his girlfriend.
Sensibly she recommended walking round the corner to where Daisy actually worked.
She's not just a pretty face (Rick's girlfriend, not Daisy... not that Daisy's not pretty in the facial department, or infact that she lacks smarts... i just meant to clarify that i was still talking about Rick's girlfriend not Daisy, then I got into abit of a mess... sorry to digress)
Rick stumbled to Daisy's well known high street retailer place of employment round the corner.

Rick had trouble talking, so grabs Daisy in a hug.
Daisy was a little concerned as Rick is shaking a little.
"We got it - from the Arts council"


Daisy Screamed.

Loudly.

Lots of people stared.
There was some jumping up and down (by Daisy and Rick, not the people)

Pub... news spreading, updating of facebook statuses, celebratory Indian meal.

Rick strained something dancing very hard indeed.


What this means for Accidental Collective:
Paid time in the studio to continue developing our recent work "Postscript". We aim to remake it into a piece of work we can tour to small to midscale contemporary theatre venues in England.
Showcase the new piece.
Fund the organisation of a tour.

Accidental Collective are pleased.

As such we shall return to our favourite use of this blog in the very near future; to document and explore how we work when developing and creating material.
After all we are artists - and that is our favourite thing to do

Keep them peeled all!

Rick and ACE funded Accidental Collective

Something to open your appetite...

Our micro-performance Our Daily Bread (2008) has been selected to be part of Acción Con Hambre. This project is an initiative started by Fran Winberg and is part of the current edition of Madrid Procesos, a platform aiming to support and promote new experimental work and devise new ways for its dissemination www.avam.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=33&id=55&Itemid=113.

Our Daily Bread (2008) has therefore joined a growing collection of performance recipes which involve the production and/or consumption of food. This creative 'cookbook' has been published online and will soon appear in a printed edition. To find out more about Acción Con Hambre and to read our recipe please visit www.accionconhambre.blogspot.com/2008/12/our-daily-bread.html.

SCHENGEN SMILE (a new piece)

We have been commissioned by the University of Kent to create a new piece for World Fest. This four-day festival aims to celebrate the university’s international community and ethos. To mark this occasion we are currently creating an interactive experience titled Schengen Smile. This new work develops our interest in topical issues which border on the socio-political, and is in line with past projects such as The Watching Game (2007), Our Daily Bread (2008) and BIKINI State (2008). As these works did previously, Schengen Smile does not carry an overt message; we are not looking to make grand pronouncements. Rather this new piece is designed as a trigger, a provocation, which might lead participants to reflect upon a specific theme.


Now a little something to contextualise: The title refers to two international treaties signed by countries across the European Union in 1986 and 1990. They dealt with cross-border legal arrangements and the abolition of systematic border controls among the participating countries. The main purpose of the establishment of the Schengen agreements was the abolition of physical borders among European countries. Therefore a common Schengen Visa allows travel for tourism, business visits or temporary transit for employment purposes to non-EU citizens for a period of up to 90 days. Nevertheless, Ireland and the United Kingdom were the only EU members that did not sign up to the original Schengen Convention of 1990, and retained a right to opt out of the application of the rules after their conversion into European Union law. Thus, they have not ended border controls with other EU Member States, but do apply the provisions relating to police and judicial co-operation, which form part of the Schengen acquis.

Schengen Smile is a creative response to the ups and downs, swings and roundabouts of internationalism. Throughout Saturday 28th February we will occupy the upstairs rooms of the Gulbenkian Theatre Building. There we will create a surreal take on the everyday reality of international travel: waiting rooms, forms, desks, public alerts, stamps, and frozen smiles. In this context Schengen Smile will operate as a public service. Designed as a liner journey for one person at a time, Schengen Smile will allow people to adopt a new nationality, picked at random, for a period of twenty-four hours. The experience, we hope, will offer the participants an unusual mix of humour, biting critique, and visual poetry. Hoping to open up a space for reflection, Shengen Smile will play with and subvert the structures present in the beurocratic world of visa applications, passport controls, and border crossings. On a more abstract level, the piece will explore issues relating to nationality and identity.

Make your way to the waiting area. Fill in the forms you will be given. Please write in capitals. Wait here to be processed. Have your documentation ready. Wait your turn behind the yellow line.