The World of Accidental Collective

Pause; - information for promoters and programmers

2011-08-03T09:53:00.000-07:00

Pause;

Why not stop for moment… Pause… Take a breath… Take a deep breath… Aren’t you feeling better already?

Accidental Collective offers you the opportunity to take a little break, and step into a bubble of calm and relaxation. As an individual, or in pairs, you will be able to enjoy a soothing experience – just for you – that will leave you renewed, re-balanced and ready to face the world. Pause; offers you a wide menu of performative treatments – take your pick. This life-affirming and intimate experience will help you rid yourself of any nagging doubts or worries, refresh your perspective, or simply escape from the everyday hustle and bustle… and all in only five minutes. We look forward to treating you!

Pause; doesn’t shout loudly but is quiet and gentle. That said, it does not go unnoticed (the title itself on signage has proven enough for people to stop – pause – to find out more…). It gives audiences a personal, totally positive, and life-affirming experience. With its naivety and quirkiness, audiences cannot help but leave with a smile on their faces. Accidental Collective is excited about introducing something so unique for the street performance scene.

- Outside:
Outside the gazebo two performers in white bathrobes carry signs that say ‘Pause;’. They create a visual impact and draw attention to the piece. They interact with passers-by, welcome people and book appointments for them to have their ‘pause’. The full experience of the show is only gained by booking such an appointment and stepping into the gazebo. However, these two performers always attract plenty of attention, and the odd photograph too.

- Inside:
The white gazebo is divided into two separate spaces. In each of these sits a performer, clad in white. There are two chairs and a white shelving unit, which displays a number of old-fashioned sweet-jars. The space is calm, other-worldly and quietly beautiful. The jars hold the necessary materials for each of the treatments on offer, such as: ‘Complementary Treats’ (a delicious pun, this is incredibly touching when done with pairs/families), ‘Burden Loss’ (temporarily dispel some of those nagging doubts or worries - all in a completely confidential way), ‘Aromatic Associations’ (through the use of scents – grass, coffee – you are invited to journey into your memories). Each audience member leaves with a happy ending – a beautiful white ribbon tied around their wrist with a handwritten message.

Type of performance: street theatre, installation
Format of piece: outside - walkabout performance booking appointments, inside -short ‘pauses’ for one or two people at a time delivered concurrently in two private spaces within a gazebo
Running time: 7 minutes per appointment per space. This can run for up to six hours per day in slots of one or two hours.
Audience numbers per hour: between 12 (one person per appointment) and 24 (two people per appointment).
Performance space: 3,5m deep x 6.5m wide x 3.5m high
Set up time: 2 hours
Take down: 2 hours

FEEDBACK

A great addition to the arts world; a show that sits neatly on the edge of reality and fiction. Clever and charming, and no doubt life changing for some. (Bettina Linstrum, Co-Director ArtsAgenda, programmers of Derby Feste 2010)

Accidental Collective’s Pause; was a superb addition to the events programmed for the launch of the second Folkestone Triennial art festival. They skilfully combined light-hearted escape with a great sense of fun, whilst also maintaining a poignancy that made the audience feel they were fully integrated within the performance. This led to them being fully booked for the entire day which is a huge testament to the quality of their work. Pause; intrigues the audience, captures them and leads them into having their own unique experience, then sends them away with their own happy ending. Accidental Collective was a joy to work with and I cannot wait to welcome them back to Folkestone soon. (Lucy Johnson - Events Manager, Folkestone Triennial)

...you get the sense of stepping out of the world for a second, entering a bubble where time stands still... wonderfully simple, intimate and quite emotional... There should be a Pause; tent in every train station in the country at rush hour. A simple idea, excellently executed. A piece that highlights Accidental Collective’s ability to create experiences that can change the view of the world for a passer-by, even if only for five minutes. (Laura Dean, review for Exeunt)

FURTHER DETAILS:

- Ideal for urban spaces (town centres, pedestrian streets or squares, shopping centres).

- The performance can also be situated indoors (foyers etc), provided enough height to extend the gazebo (3.5 m).

- The piece requires an outside performance space of 3 metres by 6 metres, preferably with passing trade.

- A level, concrete or paved surface is preferred (we will provide the necessary weights for the gazebo). Noise pollution from other shows/stages can affect the experience of “Pause;”, but this is something we can work with.

- If presented over a number of days secure parking or storage space will be necessary.

- The support of the venue or festival’s technician is greatly appreciated, but not a requirement.

Wraparound activities:
Accidental Collective’s members have been working in education since the company's inception. Over the years they have cultivated a reputation for a thorough, rigorous and engaging delivery. By combining technical expertise with their own sense of playfulness, Accidental Collective can guarantee no workshop will be the same and will always be fully inclusive of varying abilities and performance styles. Moreover, the company’s practice is not only creatively and artistically focused, but also has an academic grounding.
The company's flexible approach means it can always enter into discussion with you to produce a workshop session, or sessions, which meets your specific requirements. To date Accidental Collective has delivered both curriculum-based and creatively-led programmes, to both students and teachers. Using their investigative process and unique approach to collaborative work, they aim to lead participants on a journey within each workshop, highlighting techniques and relevant practitioners as prompted by the relevant interests of the group.

For more information contact us by emailing info@accidentalcollective.co.uk

POT LUCK - SAT 18TH JUNE

2011-06-09T02:12:00.000-07:00

Accidental Collective hosts:

@ The Jolly Sailor Pub, Canterbury

Saturday 18th June, 7.00 - 9.30 pm
Tickets £2
Bar open as normal

Pot Luck is a trial series of evenings across Kent, supporting performance-makers in the region, showcasing and developing their work and building bridges between artists and audiences. It aims to be an artist-led inititative and is currently hosted by Accidental Collective.

Pot Luck Performance Night #1 will be in The Jolly Sailor, which is a working pub, and as such will be a smaller version of the following three Pot Luck nights. Consider it an amuse-bouche to tickle your cultural tastebuds and whet your appetite for more Pot Luck fun through June to October!

Pot Luck Performance Night #1 offers you a veritable buffet of delectable tit-bits
including performance, poetry, live art and dance.

So, why not pop in, have a drink and sample a selction of offererings from our delicious platter of performance!

Other Pot Luck Performance Nights:
#2 The Astor Theatre, Deal
Friday July 8th, 7.30 pm
#3 The Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate
Saturday September 10th, 7.30 pm
#4 Creek Creative, Faversham
Saturday October 8th, 7.30 pm

(Ticket price will vary between venues)

Supported by The National Lottery through Arts Council England

WANTED: performers and production assistants

2011-04-01T06:16:00.001-07:00

Dear all,

As you know we are working on a new version of i am small THE WORLD IS BIG. We are currently looking for people to get involved in the final event. Yes, that's you! Please read the information below, and feel free to forward it to friends, family, or anybody who you think might be interested (the more the merrier). Thank you! Pablo

.............................................................................................

i am small THE WORLD IS BIG is Accidental Collective's latest project, and builds on a 2010 commission from the Gulbenkian Theatre (Canterbury). Funded by Kent County Council, this new version will culminate in a free performance event on Saturday 28th May 2011.

As part of this project, Accidental Collective are working with 9 groups across Kent (from a primary school to a Franciscan community). Together, they have been thinking about how to make the planet a better place, and have been using cut up atlases to re-stitch the world in a new way. The project's finale will bring together these 9 fragments to make a huge, new world map. Part village fete and part sit-in, this celebratory performance event will take over Kent County Hall in Maidstone.

We are currently looking for enthusiastic, adventurous and creative individuals to assist us in all aspects of this final event's delivery. Do you like to perform, manage front of house, or work behind the scenes? Are you interested in site-specific, socially engaged, or community work? Get in touch! This is an excellent opportunity to get involved in an exciting and ambitious project, gain experience, and meet like-minded people: and you can get a glowing reference for your CV if you want! No previous experience is required, but you will have to be available for the finale and a few meetings in the run-up to it.

If you would like to be part of i am small THE WORLD IS BIG, please email us your name, age, and a little paragraph about yourself and why would want to be involved. Send your emails to:

iamsmall@accidentalcollective.co.uk

Thanks!

WorldFest 2011

2011-03-03T17:03:00.000-08:00

We asked: "Which two World Figures would you like to see sit down over a pot of tea and some cakes?" Participants had the opportunity to decorate a cupcake with a World flag design and pose for their photograph as a World Figure. Below are some of the results... More on WorldFest to follow soon...

CUTTING: i am small

2011-03-02T06:23:00.000-08:00

This is a bit of a catch-up post...

On Tuesday 22nd February we 'officially' began i am small THE WORLD IS BIG (2011). Of course we have been plugging away at the project for a good few months now, but that has all been preparatory work. When I say that this was the 'official' start of the project, it is because we started its core process: cutting up the world atlases. We will then take these fragments to the nine groups/communities across Kent for them to stitch them back together, thus reshaping the world. Though this was not a performance as such, we carried out the cutting in a performative manner. We set up the space, we wore 'costumes', we established the ground rules, and we started to cut. After 3 hours at it, and cannibalising over 30 atlases, we have enough map fragments for the first few visits to groups/communities.

A few intereting and unexpected questions came up: what happens if we cut accross national borders? where are the boundaries between continents? can you recognise a tiny piece of land if the capital is not part of it? considering there are such differences on the land, why do all oceans and seas look the same?

Paul McGrath, a local film maker, documented the cutting process. He is currently editing the footage and it will be posted on the new project website.... More soon!

Pablo

Platforms for performers!

2011-03-01T07:20:00.000-08:00

Accidental Collective have been beavering away to create something truly special for the Kent Arts scene! We created... Pot Luck!

Pot Luck is an artist-led community initiated and currently led by Accidental Collective. Pot Luck is focused on a series of platforms and events which enable theatre and performance makers across the county to share and develop their work and practice. Pot Luck also seeks to raise the profile of their work by creating links across all areas of theatre-making and delivery.
With sincere thanks to our supporting venues, we are delighted to announce the diary for summer and early autumn:-

June 18th
Jolly Sailor public house, Canterbury. 7.30 - late
This is a small venue with an upstairs room and a downstairs space. It is a working pub and has a great atmosphere.
Tickets will be available from the venue in advance from the End of May (unfortunately we cannot accept CC payments) and on the door priced £3/£2 Conc)

July 8th
The Astor Theatre, Deal. 7.30pm – 11.00pm
This is an old theatre with LOADS of spaces from a flexible auditorium, bar, backstage and basement spaces as well as large rooms upstairs too!
http://www.theastor.org/
Tickets will be available via box office on the evening and in advance £6/£5 conc

September 10th
Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate. 7.30pm – 11.00pm
This is a tiny, 80 seat theatre with a really supportive and open-minded audience. They are flexible to us using the whole space in whatever way we like.
www.tomthumbtheatre.co.uk
Tickets will be available via Box office on the evening and in advance £6/£5 conc

October 8th
Creek Creative, Faversham. 7.30pm – 11.00pm
This is a mixed space, again with lots of different areas from a gallery space, an underground tunnel, performance area in the basement with loads of potential places to site work. (The building is undergoing some renovation at the moment to
upgrade performance facilities which will make even more possible)
www.creek-creative.org
Ticketing details TBA

We now seek submissions from companies, performers and artists to be part of these innovative events. We are looking for submissions which are exciting in terms of presentation, style and content, but also fun or offbeat. We are open to submissions which include one-to-one or roving performance, installation, multimedia or durational elements as well as scratch performances, readings or anything else performative you can dream up. Please keep your proposals realistic for the venues and resources available - i.e. minimal!

This is a really exciting and new opportunity for performance makers in our region and would love to hear from you and hear what you’d like to bring to one of the events (or more than one event if you so wish). Please send a 200 word outline of your performance or idea proposal (including if/where its been realised before), any photos or youtube links, as well as the venues/dates you would like to be involved with to:

Rick Bolinger
info@accidentalcollective.co.uk
07989722520

We look forward to hearing from you!
Accidental Collective

UNTITLED CONVERSATONS: 1, 2, 3... (performance)

2011-02-18T15:10:00.000-08:00

So, two Saturdays ago we presented UNTITLED CONVERSATIONS: 1, 2, 3... Marie Collins, Jess Hall, and Laurie Parsons were our intrepid performers. This was not just their first time presenting such intimate and participatory work, but it was also the first time they engaged in a duration activity of this kind. They were at it for over an hour and 15 minutes!

UNTITLED CONVERSATION 1:

Instructions: Choose a number between 1 and 10. Put the earphones on. Sit down at the table. Press play. Ring the bell. Enjoy! This was an intense exchange between performer an audience member. Placed within a public setting, they both shared a charged and magical moment, and looking deeply into each other's eyes, the performer wrote a stream of consciousness based on the impressions received from the audience member. At the end of the exchange, after putting on the blindfold again, the performer handed this text over in a sealed envelope. The experience was largely shaped by the qualities brought to the table by the audience member, as well as the music track they would have unknowingly chosen.

UNTITLED CONVERSATION 2:

Instructions: Walk in, alone. In a quite room, the performer faced a small mirror placed on an easel. The audience members essentially received no instructions. A red line of tape on the floor suggested an area that should not be stepped into, other than that, they had to work out the mechanics of the engagement by themselves. The performer would make eye contact with the audience member and, without speaking a word out loud, they attempted to communicate. Anybody who was not skilled at lip-reading would have found this to be a very frustrating experience. At the same time, the audience members would often talk out loud, drawing attention to their own voices.

UNTITLED CONVERSATION 3:

Instructions: No overt ones whatsoever. A performer sits on a chair in a public place, hiding behind a 'mask'. No words are spoken, only glances are exchanged. In this way the performer beckons over an unsuspecting audience member and invites them to sit down and hide behind another 'mask'. A whispered conversation ensues, at times coquettish at times coy, at times warm at times cold. As they talk, both are observed by other members of the public and, at points, 'perform' for them a playful dance of peekaboo.

...................................................................................................................................................

We did have some notebooks for the audience to write their feedback.... And the organisers of the event did give out some forms as well. So, as soon as we have had a meeting with our fantastic performers to debrief, I will write a little something about how the pieces went. So, watch this space.

Pablo

Venue for: i am small THE WORLD IS BIG

2011-02-13T06:54:00.001-08:00

Those of you already familiar with i am small THE WORLD IS BIG might remember that we were quite keen on locating the project in metaphorical or actual seats of power. In its first incarnation, in February 2010, the piece occupied the Senate Building at the University of Kent (where all important counsel meetings regarding the university's governance are held). So, now that the project has grown tenfold and will be Kent-wide... What would be the ideal venue? Something suitable large? Something with connections to power? Something which would be the perfect location to tap into the project's international, socio-political, and personal concerns?

(cue drum roll)

Of course, it could only be County Hall in Maidstone! On a practical level, you could say it is the geographical centre of Kent (and it is easy to get to because Maidstone East train station is just over the road). More importantly thou, on a conceptual level, is is also the political centre of Kent - the main base for Kent County Council. Since they are funding this next versoon of the project, it makes sense to choose this as a venue for a number of reasons.

The building is quite impressive from the outside. Solid. Stable. Gray. Though the entrance now used is on the side, we prefer this main/majestic archway. There is definitely a sense of 'drama' as you walk into the courtyard. So, the fact that i am small THE WORLD IS BIG will take over this building, and offer people a peek into it, will hopefulyl spark a number of very interesting/relevant associations.

Essentially, i am small THE WORLD IS BIG will occupy and animate four distinc areas/environments. There is obviously the courtyard. Hopefully we will be able to secure full access to it, and ensure that there are no cars parked there...

As you face the building, on the right hand side, is a glass entrance to the main reception area. Aesthetically speaking, we have begun to move away from the corportate feel we used in the previous version of the project, and towards a more homely/makeshift/personable feel. It will be interesting to see how we can, temporarily, transform this reception area and reimagine its use.

Past the reception desk, up a few steps, is the entrance to the next area/environment: the gallery. This is a long, though relatively wide space, which is sometimes used for exhibitions. It is likely that the 'satellite' activities will be located here, because it is a space to prime/prepare the audience for the main action: the bringing together of various re-stitched map fragments created by the communities. What excites us is that, unlike in other historic/official building we have worked in before, this space has panelling all around it (yay, no more agonising as to whether we can use pins or blue tack).

From the gallery you enter the main hall. This is actually only used as a transitionary space and KCC staff just walk through it as they go about their business. However, it is where we will place the heart of the project: the map-making. It has a lovely stone floor, and plenty of pannelling along the walls. For better or worse the large doors that lead back onto the courtyard cannot be open. This inevitably means that the audience will go on a linear journey, and then go back on themselves to exit. We just have to work with what we got. What interesting and potentially very useful, is that the hall has essentially two levels. The main space is the 'ground floor', but then there are some steps onto another level, which is conveniently framed by something resembling a proscenium arch! From there, a grand staircase leads to the first floor. What's great about this is that, even though we cannot use the first floor, we will hopefully be able to use the staircase... It would be idea for any 'grand' entrances (not that we have one at the moment).

More to follow soon.... If you want to find out how we will occupy/transform County Hall, watch this space...

Pablo

PS: I am pretty sure I have already introduced her, but just in case I forgot... We are working with a scenographer! Fiona Watt. Her background is in stage work, but she has increasingly been drawn to site-specific or non-text-based work. Check out her website: http://www.fionawatt.com/ We have already begun to have some very interesting conversations, and when she came to see County Hall with us she was as enthused as we were. I think I will leave all of that for another time thou...

one to one performance

2011-02-10T07:45:00.000-08:00

Just had a session with some students at The University of Kent (applied performance) we were talking about making work FOR people and tomorrow we're going to look at one to one performance as i think its a good way to get juices flowing on the subject creatively.... this is definately worth a look!
www.thisisliveart.co.uk/Resources/Study_Room/Guides/Rachel_Zerihan.html

if you're interested...

Rick

Untitled Conversations: 1, 2, 3... (rehearsals)

2011-02-02T13:49:00.000-08:00

This evening we had our second rehearsal for what is not called Untitled Conversations: 1, 2, 3...
What happened to the first rehearsal I hear you say? Well, I must confess that I forgot to blog about it. Apologies.
So, to recap.... When we found out about Glue’s “Scratch Interact” event we thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to dust off one of those ideas that has been sitting on the shelf for quite a while, and try it out.
Untitled Conversations: 1, 2, 3... is our first piece that will be entirely delivered by a different set of performers: Marie Collins, Jess Hall, and Laurie Parsons. They are all in their final year at the University of Kent, specializing in ‘Contemporary Performance Practice’ (which is the course we completed in 2006). Essentially we have created three one-to-one performances that last only about 5 minutes, and these three lovely people will be delivering them on the day of the event.
At the moment the piece works as a triptych, composed of three short one-to-one encounters which can be experienced in any particular order. Placed within a public space, Untitled Conversations: 1, 2, 3... attempts to interrogate the nature and limits of communication, connections and intimacy within task-based scenarios. Can something unspoken take place between us? Can we share a special moment? Can we really come together when others are watching us? Though tight in its construction, and with various degrees of interaction, the piece is deliberately open to your interpretations and associations.
Here are some pictures of our first rehearsal:

And here are some pictures of this evening’s rehearsal. The black, formal costumes worked a treat, and the use of red elements helped tie them all together:

We think the piece is ideally suited for foyer setting, so we will see how the scratch goes and what happens to the project from here onwards.

Helooooooooooooooooooo 2011

2011-01-26T08:22:00.000-08:00

Well its a new year, start of the 20teens... a whole world of possibilities are opening up... well actually, they were all there in the first place, but some how the sense of a new year, a clean slate is invigorating...

We At collective HQ have been biiiiiiiiiiiiizeeeeeeee... where to start...

Pablo is on the cusp of finishing his Phd... soon it'll be Dr Pablo thank you very much. Rick's been poorly and Daisy's been keeping us all together. isnt that nice...

Now i know you dont read this blog to hear about the social, medical and academic comings and going of AC but there we are, its nice to let you know.

There have also been some quite exciting happenings in the world of the company too... would you like to hear about those..? (If not you might want to skip this next bit)

Firstly, we had a nice trip up The Basement in Brighton. The folks there are helping us to continue developing our piece "Everone's looking for someone..." which began life as a scratch performance there last year.

Last week we had a day down there. We had a long chat about ideas for developing the piece....

(Fot those of you with a short term memory, or if you're new to this blog - The piece comes in two parts. Te first is a collosal game of hide and seek around a town or sity centre where two besuited figures engage with passers-by, strangers, in a bid to find one another. They leave notes around the place and ask [eople to call if they see their opposite number around. The second part entails an evening performance in a venue where the days journeying and hunting is recounted, text messages and voicemails broadcast. Lots of storytelling, sidelines into the meaning of looks and looking, losing and finding and the reasons we are all, in our own way, looking for someone ensues...)

There are a few things we're trying to iron out though...

When we scratched the event back in summer last year, the sun was shining and all the beautiful people of Brighton we eager to help... These two odd looking characters werent really defined, their aim (apartr from looking) was abit limp and seemed to develop over ther day. That was ok as it was abit of a trial. Fast forward a few months... Its January, its cold and rainy... Brighton's beautiful people ar eall tucked up in cafes, homes and wherever else they take their beautiful selves. But we're still trying to nail down the approach and aims of this search... How do we get people involved..?

Much conversation.

What if they were supposed to meet... if they have to give a presentation but they cant be there and are searching to find the other to tell them BEFORE the event starts..? What if we give them a story for people to invest in..? what if we give them a purpose people can relate to... inject a sense of urgency..?

Well... Apparently all that does is scare people.

We took this new sense of purpose and fiction onto the streets for a trial.

People are very sweet. One girl almost cried, such was her depth of feeling for this lost and desperate figure's (my) plight.

Not quite the type of engagement we were looking for. Sympathy enlists sentiments of hopefulness, charity... somehow there was some fun missing...

Back to the drawing board for that part... So we high-tailed it back to the studio for some brainwork...

I mean, really... what's it all about?

is this whole thing about human relationships? Is it about loss and memory? is it about this inate sense of incompleteness most of us feel when we are bereft of human contact..?

I hate my own company... but then i'm bloody minded, opinionated and pedantic... i manage to hide it around other people (mostly) but there's no hiding that from yourself.

Yes, there's something in the joy of other people... Even ET had the urge to phone home, right?

There's nothing so good for the soul as a heart to heart with someone, being honest and open with someone, loving someone, being appreciated by someone, just sitting with someone, sharing a joke with some one... someone, someone, someone....

So in someways our trip to Brighton was a failure (street trials didnt work...) BUT... knowing what you're thinking about iss a good starting point and we managed to spend some time working that out.

In other news....

We're still pushing on with our most ambitious project to date "i am small, the world is BIG" the big final celebratory event of which is scheduled for May... We're still on the hunt for potential ready made communities to take part in a short workshop where they get to re-imagine the world and stitch a new world map along their own whimsical lines, sao if you're in the WI, a school, youth group, The Army, The Church, work in an office... then we could come and work with you for just a couple of short hours and you'd get to be part of this exciting, Kent wide project.

The website is in process and the aesthetic and design stuff is pulling together nicely... cant wait.

There's more exciting stuff in the pipeling with Accidental Collective premiering a new and as yet un-named piece as part of "Scratch-interract" currated by Glue and to be held on the 5th of Feb at the Jarman Building on t=the Kent Unicersity campus. its between 3 and 6 and free to attend. However, some of the performances within the event are limited capacity and places are gonna be first come first served... but if you wanna get in there early then you can always book (its FREE) here.. http://scratchinteract.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/free-tickets-kent/
Its gonna be a mindblowing Saturday afternoon of interactive performance from some really amazing theatre makers! So dont miss out!!!

And finally!!!

Worldfest is here again and the Gulbenkian and University of Kent is once again playing host to all sorts of international related and themed events 23rd-26th of Feb. We'll post more info as and when we get it but Accidental Collective are performing and trying out some innovative games and entertainments in the big marquee outside the library on friday 25th between 6 and 8 and you should def come see us!!!!

ok, i bet your eyes are tired!! my fingers certainly are... mammoth post... next one will be more meat and less catch up... i promise!!

ADVERT FOR WEBSITE DESIGNER

2010-10-26T06:42:00.000-07:00

Advert for Website Designer

What we need

Accidental Collective is looking for a Website Designer based in East Kent to design and build an innovative, exciting and interactive website for the company’s new performance project, i am small THE WORLD IS BIG.

This is an excellent opportunity for a budding or experienced web designer to develop their skills and creativity and to collaborate on a truly exciting project. The website will be at the very heart of the project and will provide a great platform for a designer. Although we do not have a large budget, there is a small fee attached to this position, which can be discussed on application.

The website should

1. aesthetically reflect the project’s themes
2. appear inviting and user-friendly for audience and participants (aged 9-90!)
3. be interactive (different communities should be able to reflect on their
experiences and connect with each other via message boards, uploading photos etc)
4. allow for the company to easily update the content

Who are we?

We are Accidental Collective, an experimental theatre and live art company, based in Canterbury. We produce performance, live events and installations that act as provocations and aim to intervene in the everyday. Over the last four years, we have been funded by Canterbury City Council, Eastbourne Borough Council, Kent County Council, Arts Council England and Heritage Lottery Fund.
For more information go to http://www.accidentalcollective.co.uk/

What is the project?

i am small THE WORLD IS BIG is a Kent-wide, multifaceted, participatory live art performance, funded by Kent County Council. It aims to positively connect communities across Kent through creative action and question the gaps between the individual, the local and the international. The project will begin with a series of workshops with a selection of diverse groups and communities from across Kent. In these workshops, these groups and communities will stitch together paper fragments of countries and regions cut out of atlases, thereby creating a section of a new version of the World. In a final celebratory event, each group’s section of the new World will be stitched together to form a whole.

If you would like to see trailers of a work-in-progress version of i am small THE WORLD IS BIG, please visit the following links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4LbTD7zNL0&feature=related (Day 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUYbwK5ygjk (Day 2)

The project is running from November 2010 through to May 2011 and as such the web designer would need to be available to update the website at key stages during this time.

To apply, please email iamsmall@accidentalcollective.co.uk, stating your interest and a little bit about yourself. The closing date for emailing is Friday 12th November at 5 pm. If you have any questions before applying, please email the above address or call Daisy Orton on 07793973447.

2010-09-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

So we are back, we are landed, and we are taking stock.
We’ve had a little post-pause; pause… as it were.
I have overseen workmen coming and insulating my flat, walked around Strood on a sprained ankle, and spent time working on events production and planning with teens in Maidstone.

Pause over.
So lets reflect…
…We think we can call the weekend we spent at Derby Festé a nice, big, juicy success.

It went like this… (Excuse me while I shake my brain to make sure it comes out in the right order…)

Friday - Rick, Daisy and Laura head up to Derby with 4 large wheeled suitcases, 1 box of flat-pack shelving, two large holdalls and an umbrella.

Saturday - Two gazebos, deep pink in colour and carpeted inside, are erected on Market Place opposite an enormous green blow up slide featuring The Hulk and charging £1.50 for 5 goes. (Apparently 27 makes you too old to have a go)
5 jars in each gazebo
1 bookcase in each gazebo,
2 chairs in each gazebo,
1 rug in each gazebo,
1 performer in each gazebo…
11 o’clock rolls around and it begins:
In couples and alone people start to book in and fill up our 5 minute sessions up.
Allowing for 12 sessions an hour (6 apiece for the 2 performers) bookings overtake walk-ins very quickly… we were kind of anticipating a warm up period, maybe some dips and lulls in audience attendance throughout the day… Nope…
In fact, so popular did Audio Treatment, Complimentary Therapy, Burden loss Treatment, Transportative therapy and Achievement treatment appear to be… that we stayed open for nearly an extra hour at the end of the day.
I’d call that successful.

Sunday - More of the same… though this time in the pleasant park land in front of Derby Cathedral… fittingly named Cathedral Green.
Oh, and for 2 hours less into the evening. We had to pack up the various cases, bags, boxes and brollies and hot foot it to the train station for the trawl home.

In all we saw 170 people, giving away as many happy endings. Our hands were feeling a bit drunk from all the alcohol-based antiseptic hand wash, our eyes needed some time to adjust to a world that was not pink. We turned away nearly 150 people as we just couldn’t fit them in… next time it’ll be 3 gazebos…

BUT…..
Lists and flippant descriptions aside though, that’s only half the story.
Statistics, timings, bookings, gazebos, rugs and jars…
There’s some video to be posted on good ol’ YouTube and we’ll keep you posted on its posting… as it were…

In the mean time, I have yen to explain how magical, sweet, bizarre and soothing the whole experience was…

During a ’group session’ of Complimentary Therapy I saw an 8 year old boy burst into tears when his Dad paid him the compliment that “I really love spending time with you and love how great it feels to be with you…”
This was not about exploitation, nor was it about encouraging big emotive gestures (though it did not actively discourage them either). This was about offering clients a chance to remember how it feels to hear nice things said to them. This was about offering a client a chance to remember how it feels to say nice things about someone close to them.
“I love the backs of you knees..” (giggles from both)
“I love that you make me try new things”
“I like your domestic pottering, cos I like domestic pottering too”

As with happy endings, a compliment for one person can mean nothing to another.

Watching people smile as their burdens were swallowed up and taken away was warming. I never knew what people wrote on their little slip of paper. The paper had a line, a word, an image that summed up their burden, the one they wanted to be rid of. This was burden loss…
Watching someone go from concentration on their most burdensome of burdens to a smile, a giggle, a full on laugh… seeing how somebody, everybody, changes they way they sit, move, emote once they have laughed or smiled. That’s a nice thing to witness.
This was probably, and maybe unsurprisingly, the most popular of treatments. By the end of the weekend I almost felt I owed those clients something. A thank you for sharing that moment with me.

I don’t really want to talk through all the therapies here. I need to balance my literary drive with theatrical mystique and avoid further descriptions…

I will say though, that simply sitting in a tent with a person, sharing a lose proximity, even for 5 minutes, seems to offer surprises and shocks and even those dangerous warm fuzzy feelings we’ve mostly learnt to be suspicious of… maybe it was the pinkness of it all…

R

pause; (in rehearsal)

2010-09-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

Earlier this evening we had a major rehearsal for pause; (yes, that's right, the semicolon is part of the title).

As you might already know, from looking on our newly redesigned website or because you are friends with us on Facebook, pause; is a reworked version of Present Tents (which we showed on 11th July 2010 at Lounge on the Farm Festival, as part of PANeK's Showcase at 'The Playhouse'). Present Tents took place in a small two-an tent and was a short yet intimate one-to-one encounter between a performer and an audience member. A few days after the festival we were contacted by ArtsAgenda (a production company based in Brighton), and they asked us if we wanted to show the piece at this year's Derby Festé (a festival they are programming). Of course we were ecstatic! Not only for getting a chance to perform outside the South East, but because the festival includes such established artists as Ant Hampton (Rotozaza) and Metro-Bouldot-Dodo. However, being perfectionists as we are, we were not content to present exactly the same work (in the state that it was then).

So, as I said at the beginning, we have had a major rehearsal to rework the piece. Now, I would not like to give too much away (spoiling surprises at this stage would be a shame). All I will say is that it was a long but very productive meeting. We tightened the aesthetics, we discussed and walked through the audience's experience, we developed some of the therapies/treatments we already had and devised some new ones, and we worked through our personas. If you want to find out more you will have to come to Derby on 25th and 26th September, and experience pause; yourself. Of course we are also planning to document the piece with photographs and hopefully video too, so later on this autumn/winter you should be able to see some updates on our main website.

I bought these glass jars from a corner shop near my house (it had been bought by new owners and they were refurbishing the premises). They used to contain old fashioned sweets and we liked the way they looked and felt (allowing for both associations of sweets/treats and medicine/apothecary). The jars will contain the props and objects needed for each of the therapies/treatments that will be part of pause;.

This is Laura (posing as an audience member) and Rick (as the 'trained therapist') going over the introductory exchange. It involves gentle and soothing speech, as well as antibacterial gel and a hand massage.

As our blurb for pause; says: we are looking forward to treating you.

Pablo

Introducing: Laura McGrath

2010-09-01T14:18:00.001-07:00

Dear All,

We figured it was about time we formally introduced Laura McGrath, who will be working with us on a number of projects. Like us, Laura is a University of Kent graduate, who specialised in dramaturgy during her final year. As part of her studies, last autumn and spring, she observed and wrote about the preparation and delivery of i am small THE WORLD IS BIG (and did in fact lend more than a helping hand!). Building on the successes of this informal and initial relationship we thought that we'd ask if Laura wanted to work with us again. Thankfully she accepted! Laura will be taking a number of overlapping roles (from administration to community liaison) for the new version of i am small THE WORLD IS BIG which we are preparing for 2011 (thanks to substantial funding we have received from Kent Count Council's 'New Recipes Programme'). But don't think we are letting get off lightly... Later this month, on 25th and 26th, Laura will actually be performing alongside Rick and Daisy during pause; (Derby Festé 2010). We are also hoping that she will come on board as a dramaturg when we take everyONE's looking for someONE back into the studio this autumn. So, as you can imagine Laura is going to be one busy girl. But that's just how she likes it.

As you can see for yourselves, she is quite chirpy (and obviously has a thing for comfy, coloured jumpers and beautiful countryside). So, welcome to the team!

Summer Catch Up

2010-08-06T11:19:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

We hope this email finds you well, and that you are having a nice summer (despite the weather).

It has been quite a long time since we have been in touch and so we thought it would be nice to send you a brief update…

i am small THE WORLD IS BIG has received substantial funding from Kent County Council through the ‘New Recipes Programme’! We will be re-creating the project on a larger and more ambitious scale than last time, contacting communities across Kent. There will also be a project-specific website and many other new exciting developments. The culminating event will take place in spring 2011. We’ll keep you posted as soon as we know more.
On a related matter, we have now put up the video documentation of the first version of “i am small THE WORLD IS BIG” on YouTube. Have a look!
Day 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4LbTD7zNL0
Day 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUYbwK5ygjk&feature=related

everyONE’s looking for someONE… Now if you were keeping an eye on our creative blog at the start of the summer, you will recognise this title as one of our latest creative ventures. We are still waiting to receive some pictures from the work-in-progress we presented at The Basement (Brighton). But we can say the piece was a success, both on the Brighton streets during the day and in the evening culmination. Very soon we will be going back into the studio to work on this project and make it a tourable performance. Watch this space…

We were recently approached by ArtsAgenda, a national creative producing company based in Brighton (http://www.artsagenda.co.uk/). They have programmed one of our latest works for a festival taking place in Derby this September, Derby Festé (http://www.derbyfeste.com/). We will be performing our work alongside great names like Ant Hampton (Rotozaza), and Metro-Boulot-Dodo! Our piece, formerly known as Present Tents, began live as a one-off for The Playhouse and was presented with the help of PANeK at this year’s Lounge on the Farm music festival. This intimate and quirky one-to-one experience has just been reworked and polished for Derby Festé. It also has a new title: pause; The performance will take place in Derby Market Place on from 11am till 6pm, on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th September 2010. Spread the news across the Midlands and North!

Finally, we have been rummaging through our bottom drawers and found a trailer of POSTSTRIPT (v.1) as it was performed at Canterbury Fringe Festival in October 2008. Retro! Time does fly when you are having fun…. The trailer is now on YouTube. Have a look and see if you can spot yourself in the audience. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjDLpo0njfs

Over and out. (For now.)

Much accidental love!

Pablo, Daisy, and Rick

TEXT RESPONSES

2010-06-14T15:21:00.000-07:00

I thought there might be some curious minds out there, who might be wondering if one received any text messages in response to everyONE is looking for someONE… As you know, whilst one was trying to look for one, one left a series of messages in red envelopes.

WHO ARE YOU LOOKIG FOR?
5/6/10
I was here at (insert time).
I waited for you.
I looked for you amongst the crowd.
But I couldn’t find you….
(if you find this message please text…)

All in all, one left a total of 12 such messages, inside red envelopes, scattered across Brighton city centre: on benches, on railings, on lamp posts, etc… So, below you will find the texts one received….

05/06/2010
13:54 Found your note. What is it for?
15:55 I saw you, i was there. You went away without saying hello.
16:16 Hello! I couldn’t find you either, but i did find your message. I’m James, who are you? Xx
16:21 I’ve found your friend! On Bond St. Ruby x
16:22 I found your letter
17:33 I found your message today while walking home. This is all very mysterious. So I’m texting you.
18:17 Thank you
22:57 Found your note got da mssge

Then, to one’s surprise there was one more message that only arrived yesterday!

13/06/2010
18:27 Hey thought you’d want to know i found your letter last week a couple of hours after you left it. If i’d known you were looking for me i would have got there sooner

All those individuals who texted received the same reply on the following day:

Hello, thank you very much for your text yesterday. You were a small part of Accidental Collective’s new performance project: everyONE is looking for someONE. If you would like to find out more, please email info@accidentalcollective.co.uk Thanks!

So far only one person has been in touch. Here is the email she sent:

Dear people/person running this project,I was asked to say something about my experience so here it is:I was on my way back from my writing group and had already randomly run into a couple of people I knew unexpectedly so I was in a particularly good mood, when I saw the red envelope tied to the bench. I first thought it looked like a romantic token since red is often the colour of romance, but since it seemed to be there for anyone to look at it I went to read the card inside. The "Who are you looking for" and "I waited but you did not come" messages were intriguing though I assumed they were meant for everyone to read rather than one person since it was in a public area. I had a few thoughts on why the card might have been left there.... I thought it was perhaps someone looking for new friends in an inventive way, someone looking for romance (although they were taking a bit of a chance since anyone could have replied), a TV or student project, or maybe the comedian and writer Danny Wallace since I've read a couple of his books and he seems to do this sort of thing all the time. Anyway I wouldn't normally have actually replied and I didn't at first, but as I was walking away I noticed a middle aged woman come up to the bench. So I sat down on the grass and watched her take out her phone to ring someone... maybe you... after reading it. Then since I was in a particularly good mood, it was a lovely sunny day, and I wasn't going to be beaten by a middle aged woman, I went back, stored the number in my phone, and texted after all.Then went home and told everyone on facebook all about it. So far I have had 3 comments, one thinking it was creepy, one thinking it was either creepy or lovely, and one comparing it to the film message in a bottle (which I haven't actually seen).Hope this helps with your project,Have a lovely Sunday,Solera.

everyONE's looked in Brighton

2010-06-07T01:53:00.000-07:00

So picture this...

It is midday...

The sun is at its peak...

At the zenith of the mornings sojourn into the afternoon...

Two identically dressed figures figures exit a small stationers on a street in Brighton. Their bowler hats and plain black suits speak of business, intention, sobriety... except from the dinnerplate sized, apparently spray-painted, targets emblazoned high up on their backs.

Their simple black briefcases and air of purpose means that as they part on the steps of the stationers with scarcely a word and nothing so unnecessary as a pause, you hardly notice.

But it, in its silent and covert way, has begun.

For the following five hours these two characters saught only one thing... To re-unite.

But how easy is such a task? In days of mobile phones and internet surely finding OneAnother should be easy.

The other thing those identical costumes scream of is an older world (minus the painted targets, obviously), a world of Victorian Bankers, Pre-war Politicians...

As such these two, who are ONE to ONE another, have no mobile phones, GPS and only a shaky outline of the geography of the city by the sein in which they find themselves.

In fact... The only things these characters have are: a biro, a notebook, camera, blank postcards, red envelopes, string, chalk and a clipboard bearing a picture of their opposite number.

In short - Nothing of use.

So 5 hours, limited resources and noticable fashion sense (even in Brighton on a hot Saturday afternoon in June) collude to create a basis for an evening performance these two are appointed to present... but before they get to this, they must look for one another. How hard can that be?

One started by strolling towards the sea front. One thought that One might have been drawn there by the crowds, the noise, the cool breeze...

No luck.

In the exposed midday heat One did get a little warm.

Turning inland and threading back towards the place One lost another, crossing the face of a shopping centre it happened.

Unexpectedly, One was there.

A photo

a chalked date/time marked on the floor

a picture, taken by a passer-by

Few words

Gone again...

meandering downhill One spoke to a street vendor. Sat by his wares in a deckchair... he hadnt seen One. He took a card and promised to get in touch if he saw One.

He's looking for noONE... I told him EveryONE's looking for SomeONE.

One repeated the same with Kat on Gardener Street. She worried i was a weirdo.
She took a card though and said she'd get in touch if she saw One...
I'm not sure she was committed.

Wandering, marking times, noting turns, Street names, people One spoke to.

One Left a message for One on a bicycle in Meeting house Lane.

"I waited here for you...

You didnt show up...

I smoked a cigarette...

in Vain..."

Sealed in a red envelope with a number to call, tied on with plain, grey, string.

One wandered.

One met another once more that day.

Same process as before complete with a stranger taking their picture. It was outside The Bath Store.

The dozen or so people One spoke to were polite, engaged and helpful.

One baked in a black suit with a target painted on One's back.

...

As the afternoon turned into evening One found One and they took to a Pit in a Basement venue on Kensington Street...

Anarchic attempts at relaying their experiences, spread across an urban environment, a mini-sea-shore-city unfold.

One is factual, pedantic, plodding.

One in procative, easily distracted, forgetful.

Reviewing photos, notes and concepts, Reviewing experiences, messages people had text and voice-mailed... trying to let them understand how one felt, how one thought, how one survived, got noticed or ignored...

Whether anyone was any the wiser by the time these two One's had finished did not seem to matter... with splatter marked pockets of information, thoughts and ideas sprayed all over the audience... with an example of the simple un-defined way in which EveryOne's looking for SomeONE presented and exposed to the world... Everyone applauded, said nice things...

One and One's brains were already ticking onwards...

My journey....

2010-05-24T07:12:00.000-07:00

Here are my notes of the journey I took through the streets of Canterbury last Friday (21/05/10) as part of our trial run of everyONE is looking for someONE. One of the ‘rules of the game’ is that we are not allowed to carry maps to navigate the urban landscape. Instead, like purposeful flâneurs, we rely on chance, instinct and directions given by people whom we meet along the way. Therefore, these notes will be vital when it comes to trace our respective routes during the evening ‘performance’. Unlike Rick I did not write down the times, which is something I will certainly do in Brighton in order to make the ‘narrative’ easier to follow.

So without further ado, here are my notes. The journey lasted between 12:15pm and 16:15pm. By all means feel free to take a pen and trace it onto a map of Canterbury…

St. Margaret’s Street left into High Street; left into Memorial Garden; left into High Street; straight into St. Peter’s Street; left into St. Peter’s Place; left into Tower Way; left into Black Griffin Lane; right into St. Peter’s Street; straight into High Street; right into Stour Street; back on myself and right into Beer Cart Lane; straight into Watling Street; right into Dane John Gardens; across the park; right into Castle Row; through the green; right into Castle Street; straight into St. Margaret’s Street; right into Marlowe Arcade; left into Rose Lane; right into the Parade; straight into St. George’s Street; left into Canterbury Lane; left into Burgate; left into Mercery Lane; right onto High Street; left into Stour Street; right into Greyfriars’ Garden; around the gardens; left into Stour Street; right into High Street; left into Guildhall Street; right into Sun Street; straight into Burgate; right into Iron Bar Lane; right onto the Parade; straight into High Street; right into Best Lane; right into Orange Street; right into Guildhall Street; left into High Street; straight into the Parade; straight into St. George’s Street; right into Whitefriars, right into Gravel Walk; through Rose Square; straight into Marlowe Arcade; right into St. Margaret’s Street; left into Memorial Garden; right into the Parade; right into Rose Lane; straight into Marlowe Avenue; straight into Dane John Gardens; through the park; straight into St. George’s Lane; left into St. George’s Street; straight into the Parade; right into Mercery Lane. THE END

All in all I left six messages. On the envelopes I wrote: “FOR YOU”. Inside, I placed postcards that said: “I was here at (insert time). I waited. You didn’t come. I looked for you, but couldn’t find you.” Then, with a little bit of string, I carefully tied the envelopes onto benches, railings, or posts.

I did meet Rick twice: once at the beginning of the day, and once at the very end of our journeys.

And, after a few failed attempts, I managed to take pictures of eight people. A big, big thank you goes out to all of them.

Pablo

Intertextuality, perhaps?

2010-05-24T06:18:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about our latest work, or rather, IT has been haunting me. The image of these two solitary figures, sticking out like sore thumbs in the urban environment… Black bowler hat. Black briefcase. Black suit. Black shoes…

everyONE is looking for someONE

Isn’t this very Samuel Beckett? The pointlessness of it! A desolate sense of hope to find one another. And of course the bowler hats. Yes, very Vladimir and Estragon.

Isn’t this very Gilbert and George? The fun of it! A tongue in cheek intervention into unsuspecting people’s everyday life. And of course the matching suits. Yes, very living sculpture.

Isn’t this very Rene Magritte? The absurdity of it! A surreal sense of wonderment. And of course, again, the bowler harts. Yes, very Gloconda.

It seems that with this new piece we are referencing, subconsciously to a degree, a vast body of historic works. Intertextuality ear your heart out! The question is how this might become manifest in the evening ‘performance’. The piece is beautifully simple on the surface (two men trying to find each other), but infinitely complex underneath. What a fantastic starting point…

Pablo

everyONE is looking for someONE

2010-05-23T09:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, but don't think Accidental Collective's brain hasn't been ticking away...

As part of Basement Arts, Brighton, Accidental Collective are producing something new.

Whilst ostensibly an evening performance the contents of that performance will be shaped by One and Another's trials and tribulations as they sought each other out earlier that day, in Brighton City centre.

Taking meticulous records of times, places, people they met, One and Another will create an ephemeral web of movements, acts and interventions around Brighton City centre.

The revelation of how successful (or not) this was will be told as the whole thing unravels in front of a live audience in the evening performance.

Though....

Accidental Collective thought it might be best to have a think about this and maybe try it out.

As such we took to the streets of our hometown of Canterbury last Friday (21/5/10) to get a sense of what worked, what didn't, how far could you ask people to go..? how far could we go?

Dressed as extras from The Thomas Crown Affair, One and Another parted ways on St Margret's Street. Briefcases, black shoes, bowler hats...

"Hi, I'm looking for this guy... (shows picture). Have you seen him?

(Giggling) "ermm... no. sorry"

"Are you just heading into town now?"

"We are... we're going shopping"

"So you'll be in town for a while?.. i only ask cos if you see him, it'd be great if you could let him know you saw me... could you do that?"

(more giggling)"... I guess..."

"Brilliant... now if you'd (produces camera) like to say cheese.."

TAKES PICTURE

"and sign this form.... just to say you know we wont do anything outrageous with the picture...

SHE SIGNS

"Okay guys, that's great... please do let him know you've seen me... "

Okay, as an engagement this needs work.

How do we get them involved?

Is this a giant game of hide and seek where the seekers don't know One or Another, each other... and the hiders are always in plain sight...

How else can they have fun with this?

How else can they help shape the evenings relation of events to a live audience..? One Another, together for the first time...

maps, urban space and looking for someone...

2010-05-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

Accidental Collective have been thinking....

Who are you looking for?

With that thought in mind, Accidental Collective are taking to the streets of Brighton.

One will be looking for Another. Leaving messages, marks, in an attempt to

time´s running out

2010-02-27T09:53:00.000-08:00

in mere moments i am making my way upstairs to start dismantling the logic of this piece of work......

There should now be a large and mishapen, re-made map of the world.... i have stopped listening to Chilean radi0, BBCworldservice is now switched off.... its just me, the laptop glow and the distant sound of "its a small world after all"....

dark times.....

Internaional is big

International is small

international is one

international is many

International is near

international is far!

international is an ideal

internationa is a front

international is people

international is contact

international is sharing

international is presenting

international is problematic

international is life

international is natural

international is scary

international is kind

wow

2010-02-27T09:13:00.000-08:00

well i just spoke to someone in Germany...

he was watching the simpsons..... the true universal language of the simpsons was revealed to us.
He had a hard night last night so was taking it easy today.....

its alright for some

we dont have much time left here now.... my oddesy of interraction with the world is definately slowing down and i need to know more!!!!!!!!!

i have found someone in China.... he´s an ex-soldier and artist... which is great cos my friend Glenn Fitzpatrick is in the same boat.... everyone should buy his book "Arts and Mines" available from amazon and all good retailers

> Connected, feel free to talk now
You: heyYou: where are you?
Stranger: china Stranger: and you ?You: England
Stranger: football is good
You: what time of day is it there? I dont really know much about football.
You: it gives the english a bad name
Stranger: It is the evening
Stranger: Yeah
You: what do you do???
Stranger: I am an ex-soldier
You: wow... i am an ex-alcoholic...
Stranger: And now
You: ... umm.... i guess I´m an artist
You: www.accidentalcollective.co.uk
Stranger: good
You: and what about you?
You: much of a living to be made as an ex-soldier?
Stranger: I also counted an artist bar
You: kindred souls then.
Stranger: Because I had studied fine arts
You: do you still make work?Stranger: yesYou: anything i could see?
Stranger: wait Stranger: My paintings are in the former home teacher
Stranger: sorry
You: sad times. thanks for looking though (he then produces some lovely portraits done in pencil)
You: cool!!!!! who´re those pictures of?
Stranger: He is my friendYou: i could never draw.... even my handwritting is awful

little interventions!

emergency calls now being connected

2010-02-27T08:48:00.000-08:00

carparks have collapsed, emergency services are now able to respond....

near to the epicentre is still eerily quiet.....

what will they find there.

parts of a motorway have collapsed...

though i am listening to quite a jolly Chilean radio station....

when do we allow Chileans the chance to be happy again and not "in mourning" for the quake...? what is a suitable mourning period for a natural disaster.... things have already gone eerily quiet in Haiti... no more regualr updates from there....

Chile update

2010-02-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

there are reports of waves over 2m high hitting the coast around chile
death toll now at 82...

Okinawa has also had a quake of 7.0 on the richter scale too.... whats happenig under ground? it makes you remember there are these massive forces grinding up against each other all over the place.... but 2 in the same day????

Two ships carrying aid have been dispatched to Robinson Crusoe Island, part of the Juan Fernandez Archipelago, which has already been hit by huge waves triggered by the earthquake."Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated. It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicentre and could also be a threat to more distant coasts," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said..... (curtesy Al Jazeera)

I just spoke to Gonzales in San Francisco... its only half 8 there and he had quite a late night... shocking!
The larges t problem faced by the world today is Small dogs, kept in handbags... DOGS ARE NOT ACCESSORIES.... what next? philipino´s in handbags?

His biggest problem is asserting himself in the workplace (where alot of his collegues are older than him). i know this feeling. sometimes you get an awreness of being young and having to hold your own with people who might not offer you the regard you deserve...

He admits to being abit relationship-aphobic....

International is everything thats not here....

another snapshot of the world....

why did nobody spot it coming

2010-02-27T07:52:00.000-08:00

First map picture and Latest map picture!!!!!!!!!!!!!

only a few hours divide them but look how big its got!!!!!!!!

This is all happening above me in a large circular room. They are re-shaping the world from old pieces of atlas while i try to reach out to you readers via cyberspace... eek!!!!!!

time keeps slipping

2010-02-27T07:22:00.000-08:00

i have been trying to skype someone in Canada but there´s no reply at all....

this makes me sad. thank god for using Chatroulette.... i have found some dutch girls who have questionable music tastes.... but they got me to play 99luftballoons..... happy happy music!

I spoke to Stephen who´s in the USA (nr Chicago)

He has interesting ideas on re-organisation of the world.... the redistribution of money would solve poverty, a simple idea. take from the rich and give to the poor.
The idea is that money as a symbol of exchange has the power to reshape the political and working order of the world...

I always saw money as a barrier to peace... as long as one person has more money than someone else then there will always be something to strive for... someone who is "better"... someone to be jealous of....

He says povery is the worlds biggest problem

He worries about his daughter and drink. (she´s 18)

There´s an engagement with a person, with the world.... i dont feel ... satisfied

Is that me?

what makes this a satisfying thing to do...? how do i get more out of the engagements i am seeking to make... the information i am looking to find

i want to talk to someone on the ground... somehow it seems important to me

2010-02-27T06:25:00.000-08:00

Easter Island has been pretty much evacuated....

i am trying to fin dsomeone in Chile to talk to...

They have closed airports in Santiago (quite a way from the epicentre)

Apparently even phonelines for the emergency services were have been down
i have been speaking to people out there in the world... their lives are going on regardless....

i´m really trying

2010-02-27T06:21:00.000-08:00

I think i might be demanding too much....

I am after a ceaseless supply of information on things developing over there.... i want to know everything. does knowing help those in trouble?

The 1960 earthquake being our guideline... .look here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxXf-dYtG7Q

I dont know what to expect to happen soon...

should i worry or be grateful?

ok ok ok

2010-02-27T05:59:00.000-08:00

ok ok ok.....

i worry that i´m losing focus here.... i am having real trouble finding more information on Chile as it unfolds....

everyone keeps saying the deathtoll is set to rise........ Everyone says "signs of devastation"

look at this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEgI1reQpM0

no sound

hmmmm

2010-02-27T05:48:00.000-08:00

Whats going on?

There´s alot i don’t know about Chile....

I worry that some rush of sympathy, outpouring of grief on my part would be false. I don’t know these people, i don’t know their homes.... i have never heard of Concepcion
Severe shaking
The Chilean National Emergency Office (Onemi) is responsible for coordinating responses from services such as fire fighters, medical teams and civil defence.
The emergency response system is organised at national, regional and local level.
"Chile is a seismic country. So, we must be prepared!" is the message from Onemi.
The office provides advice on how to prepare for earthquakes and other disasters, and how to behave when one strikes.
Scientists say severe shaking is likely to have been experienced along a 300km stretch of coastline, including in important urban centres such as Concepcion, Arauco, Lota, and Constitucion.

So they were prepared but does that make it easier to deal with the devastation?
Is it only so crucial because we still feel a hangover from Haiti barely more than a month ago.... there´s still some fundraising going on but the constant reports and stories of the troubles there have died down alot. Only 78 reported dead.... so far!
I wonder why Chile ended up being the shape it did... This elongated stretch of coastline... seemingly only there to protect Argentina from the Pacific Ocean. Barely heading inland as if reassured by the presence of the sea, clinging to it....

more than 25 aftershocks... and apprently Ther ehas been a clue dropeed by Carly Simon as to who the song "yoú´re so vain" is about.... The Sun has figured it out.....

I´m dissapointed with myself at being distracted by celebrity news...

Chile

2010-02-27T05:20:00.000-08:00

what is the largest problem faced by you in your daily life!?

Well i just heard a report about a lady who was too weak to get her door open as the house started to come down around her....

Thats a hard thing to face.... hard day.

She got out.

The people of Concepcion have started making up massive sand bags to help protect the coastline. apparently there are already bigwaves

Day two begins!

2010-02-27T04:58:00.000-08:00

so now we are into the final stage of this piece of work...

eek...

in theory i´m supposed to be working on -2 GMT... but i find myself drawn to this mornings earthquake in Chile...

There are still reports flooding in from this part of the world....

Currently the death toll reported by the BBC is 78....

Sky news reports that Tsunami warnings have been issued in 53 countries...

I´m fascinated by the fact that the sea is such a physical conduit in the transmission of such vast amounts of power and literally throw it up again hundreds if not thousands of miles away... Last time this happened in Chile there were follow up tsunami´s in Japan!

Antarctica

2010-02-26T12:12:00.000-08:00

Antarctica is a continent.....

i dont think we grasp how truly mangled our view of the world is until we think on that....

i mean the arctic is ok and all.... There´s the north pole all of that.... Santa.... but Antarctica is contrary to our whole world view.... everything goes East to West, left to right (or vice versa)... so then sitting at the geographical bottom.... the underside... is this other continent....

an unaccounted for, place.... a place of penguins and polar bears... though, since 1997 it has played host to cash machines... this means that whichever continent you ar eon you will be able to draw out your cash. isnt that a reassuring thought...

The lost posts......

2010-02-26T12:11:00.001-08:00

In this small period of relative hush (plus some coldness and definately some darkness....) i thought i´d post the lost blog from the start of today.......

nicely mixes things up doesnt it

Friday, 26 February 2010

whats in +12 GMT
Whats in +12 GMT??Who knows? i´m abit baffled at the moment and thinking this might be an impossible task. its really hard to look at world clocks... they all presuppose you know the country your looking for...hmm....ideas to iamsmall@accidentalcollective.co.ukI´m using this site called chatroulette which is this savage place where you connect randomly to strangers all over the world. it seems to be mostly blokes... i get cut off alot as i think they´re all hunting girls... ho hum it seems that people all over the world like girls.not a groundbreaking realisation. but a realisation none the lessI just spoke to jesus... yes jesus. it connected to a figure of christ on the cross. i asked where he was... he said "heaveb"... i said ohh... where´s that?... he said "yes...heaveb"... as asked if he meant Heaven... he signed off....wonder what that could mean!

I just spoke to Daisy´s mum!!!!!!

2010-02-26T11:42:00.000-08:00

I just spoke to Daisy´s mum!!!!!

She´s in Yorkshire! So its the same timezone for me! whoop whoop!!!!! i feel like two partos of my being have been squashed back together.... but not in a Startrek, transporter accident kind of way. more in a two pieces of playdoh pushed back together sort of way! becoming whole again but not without its own squishy gurgling noises.

Miranda (Daisy´s mum) thinks that the media has a large part to play in alot of the worlds problems... is there too much?

We giggled at the irony.

Her problems are more rooted in the world she inhabits... as you would expect...

Young people who need help but giving that help without the endless finances and resources that would make the job easy... I wouldnt even know where to start.

So she´s not a million miles away but she still has different experiences. hmmmmm.... but i was sort of coming to the conclusion that we were all basically the same....

Rafael (Pablo´s dad - See!!! we´re on first name terms) said to me that despite our economic ailings, piss poor weather, whatever.... we´re not poor. not Africa poor, not Indian street child poor...

i really want to speak to someone in Africa now... just to find out....

Just because of a conversation with someone up the road in Leeds...

West Yorkshire

They have culture...

Founded in 1888, Leeds City Art Gallery now houses an impressive collection of art dating back to around 1820. The Gallery's 20th century British collection was hailed by the Times as "probably the best outside London". Spread over three floors the Gallery boasts famous Victorian paintings, a small collection of French Post-Impressionist paintings, contemporary British art and a selection of works on paper drawn from the important collection of prints, watercolours and drawings.
The Gallery also houses the Craft Shop and Design Gallery, one of the most prestigious retail outlets for contemporary craft in the North of England.

They have night life...

Leeds has arguably one of the best clubbing scenes in the country packed into a compact metropolis that defies even the most discriminating clubber not to find something to take their fancy. Whatever floats your musical boat you will find it in one of the dozens of nightclubs or hundreds of bars in the city centre. There is an abundance of mainstream clubs for those whose main objective is unabashed fun! Creation is Leeds’ largest nightclub and offers three areas of music under one roof – Commercial Dance, Cheesy Chart and RnB. The same three genres are executed across 3 floors at Heaven and Hell in the Grand Arcade. Majestyk in City Square is in a similar vein, but the club is one large space as opposed to several rooms. Bondi Beach and Baja Beach Club are both beach themed venues where the music has been imported from a Dairylea factory (pure cheese) and the staff bounce around in bikinis. Check out Bondi to experience the city’s only revolving dance floor although getting off is not always easy after a few alco-pops too many!

and the means to create a night life

Leeds Brewery
Leeds' Independent Brewery
Leeds Brewery was established in 2007. It is the city’s only independent brewery. We combine the latest in brewing technology with time honoured skills and use the finest ingredients – choicest English hops, select British malted barley and our unique Yorkshire yeast – to create truly exceptional beers.
Our beers are full of flavour
Our young and enthusiastic team bring experience from across the industry to brew the finest ales and provide the best possible service. We hope the quality of our ingredients and our devotion to the brewer’s art is evident in the superior flavours, aroma, balance and character of our beers.

and a university....

I´ve been there... though it rained everytime, i think its a very nice place....

Thats the first place i have talked about today that i have actually been to!

Pablos DAD!!!!!!!!!!

2010-02-26T11:12:00.001-08:00

So... I just spoke to Pablo´s Dad...

that was random.

He´s concerned we´ve lost touch with one another and our common spirit....

When i pictured peoples responses to the question "what is the biggest problem facing the world today" i imagined answers like "Pollution" Recycling" "child povery"... Bob Geldoff answers.

Instead.... Common spirit, Pride.... are offered up as answers. much more hollistic, more open to interpretation and all ask us to change ourselves to change the world.....

interresting.

International is ... The ability to talk to people in other languages.

So says Pablo´s Dad... coming from a multi lingual family i can see how that would qualfy a person to be considered international... I hate the fact that Pablo spends five minutes in a country and has worked out the alphabet, phonics and most childrens nursery rhymes and folk tales.

god bless English education!

2010-02-26T10:23:00.000-08:00

Heading dangerously towards Europe and i dont feel like i´ve learned an awful lot

i need to talk to someone........... (does it show?... not to me love!... oh well thats alright then!!)

I´m trying to contact Ana in Egypt at the moment. she´s not answering my skype call thing... (i´ve never used it before today!)... which makes me a little bit sad actually... i was really hoping for some more of the interraction bit...

now i dont really know what to do. i looked at Egypt already... i wanted to hear a voice, see a sight maybe would have been good.

which sights would it have been?

2010-02-26T09:59:00.000-08:00

so what about all these places i´m trying to discover... what about all the people?
The human angle??

i am due to talk to Sara in Egypt in half n hour os so.... i could do with some relaxed human interraction ... its all abit frought behind me...

When talking about Egypt we have to talk about the Nile... The pharhaos...

what is it like to live in Cairo today...

The 16 million people who live in Cairo, the largest city in the Middle East and Africa, generate over 9,000 tons of garbage every day. At no cost to the government, a group of poor and displaced settlers from Egypt's rural south, the majority of who are Coptic Christians, have developed an economy and community from collecting the city's trash. Known as the Zaballeen, or "garbage collectors", they not only help to maintain the cleanliness of the city, but sort out all recyclable materials to sell back to the manufacturers. Because of their efforts, 80-90% of all the garbage they collect is recycled and re-used. This unique income-generating model is an extraordinary example of environmental sustainability that has been lauded, studied and replicated around the world.
While the estimated 65,000 Zaballeen provide a valuable service to the city and the environment, they are not formally recognized by the government and are largely rejected by Egyptian society because of the stigma associated with their work. Most are illiterate and suffer from health problems due to the piles of waste that occupy their district. In addition, the government has recently secured contracts with foreign multi-national waste disposal companies in an attempt to modernize Egypt. These contracts cost millions of dollars, demand collection fees from the citizens of Cairo, and require only 20% of the waste to be recycled. (from Kidswithcameras.com)

There´s 65,000/16,000,000´s answer... either way those numbers seem unreal. statistics, estimates, percentages, slices of the pie, lists of potential maladys, unique characteristics, laudable efforts... the stories write themselves from that dont they?

iran iraq turkey all to come

2010-02-26T09:33:00.000-08:00

what´s an islamic republic?

http://www.persianbazaar.com/ Exercise your freedom in shopping!!!!

I found the constitution of the Islamic republic of at http://www.iranonline.com/iran/iran-info/Government/constitution-1.html

i found the Persian Bazaar link at the bottom of the constitution homepage...

Afghanistan

2010-02-26T09:14:00.000-08:00

If you google Afghanistan you get 16,600,000 hits...
If you google Life in Afghanistan you get 97,600,000 hits...
If you google Kent you get 82,900,000 hits...
If you google Life in Kent you get 97,600,000hits...

I just realised i know someone in Romania so I just facebooked them to see if they could take part... i had to be reminded of international links i have... even though i don’t think of myself as international in any way shape or form... though i do have an american father though i´ve never been there...

Afghanistan makes me think of poppies... which makes me think of rememberance sunday... but its not really like that...
IED´s, roadside bombs, the return trip through Wooten Basset...
Sun, sand, no sea for miles around... Landlocked.

more people were involved in Afghan Opuim production in 2007 than had access to the internet... just goes to show that international trade can blossom with or without cyberspace

i never seem to have enoug time in these half hour slots to get any real sense of the country i´m looking at. There´s abit of Wiki, some tourist and travel sites... then... i panic.

half fourdo you know

2010-02-26T08:35:00.000-08:00

Do you know what happens when yo ublog the word international????

you get adverts for motor sales, international deliveries, the rotary club.......

about 7th or 8th is Amnesty international

so i guess we´re moving towards Bangladesh, India that sort of way.... bu talso a big slice of Kahazakstan and Russia......

Bangladeshi bowlers.... thats where my idea of Bangladesh is rooted... in that and the fact that bangladeshi food is sooooooooo delicious and so firey and so complex and so subtle..... cricket and food.... the underpinning of all modern day understandings...
did you know you can get to Bangladesh for as little as 350 pounds!!?

so wher ein the world are we.....

2010-02-26T08:06:00.000-08:00

where are we?

who am i?

These are good existential questions but one s i haveno time to deal with at the present time.

Ther reason is that i am desperately trying to keep up with time and it keeps jogging on... if only i didnt smoke so much.... it would enable me to try a little harder and wouldnt make me so aware of my own mortality by slowly taking my breath away.

I´m a little lost as to the timezone i am on for this half hour

its all getting abit blurry.... i thik its currently +7GMT

where´s that?

its some parts of china.....

here´s everything i know about China.....

It is a very large country,
t is a communist state which has recently opened itself up in certain economic ways whilst still being able to determine its own destiny (in some ways)
In recent years it has gone through a perdiod of rapid industrialisation building cities, roads, links of all descriptions have been made possible with modernised airports, sea ports... we have been buying alot of stuff from them... as we ll as sending them stuff of ours to make and then send back to us.... we even send our recycling for them to recycle and send back to us to reuse... there´s something peculiar in that...

Chinese food is improperly represented in take aways and restaurants all over britain and it can be healthy, light and with little or no deep frying involved.... (take that Century Chinese)

I have seen a documentary about the way in which poor people in china are moved off their land in order that cities and towns can be built and they are then "asked" to take jobs in the new cities and towns and never asked how they feel about that....

I know that China had the olympics not so long ago.... they did very well though the opening ceremony with the tictacs on LSD was a little disconcerting......
Apparently the Chinese also hosted the Paralympic games to a high standard providing fully accessible facilities, drop curbs all over the city and generally were very nice...

I know about the whole thing with a monk sitting in front of a tank and setting fire to himself... and protests turning into Bloodbaths.... i think thats happened alot in the past. not just there but in other places.... so i might be getting them confused.

Thailand

2010-02-26T07:40:00.000-08:00

So what about Thailand?

where is thailand? on the old tourist trail... "go to thailand" "stopped over on my way to/from Australia" i saw the rainforest, ladyboys, porn, drugs..."

I have never been to Thailand.

i dont know what to write.... nobody is talking to me out there... though i found some blogs and learnt some things..... The Thai voice is worth loooking up. i have learnt about financial scandals, shopping mall scandal, crises.............

i am losing the ongoing battle with my printer and camera set up... it wont seem to talk to one another and it makes me sad to think i cant get any photos up for you to see..... so i´ll see what i can do.... grumble!!!!

and on and on

2010-02-26T07:28:00.000-08:00

so here we are....
two and a half hours....

in fairness my planning hadnt gone as far as this........ what happens next. who do i talk to where are they?

from this open sided booth in a tiny city in England. i am reaching out.

i cant research the places i dont know. its impossible to find out about a place simply via google... i can look at maps, tourist board websites, blah blah....

Talking to Andrew has given me a real sense of what it is to live in the world. He´s an expat, living in Japan. aware that it can be as unfriendly as any place. but still making the conscious decision to live inthe place that makes him happy,

He also sends Richard his best regards and fears that the odd email and letter they exchange isnt quite as frequent as´they´d both like.... sound familiar to anyone? I have people who only live down the coast i dont see as often as i should, let alone on the other side of the world...

i am small keeps on running

2010-02-26T07:01:00.001-08:00

so we´re going on again and again...

I now have to contact Japan...

Andrew was delightful to talk to.... i learnt alot.

including...

That the japanese are just a rowdy on the tube...

They arent as polite as they used to be

International is Macdonalds... he likes the coffee... he wanted to give me a profound answer.
Personally i think that is profound

i may be the only one but i am very confused by all this timezone business... singapore and Japan. different timezones... but seemingly in the wrong order...

i dont really get it

answers to iamsmall@accidentalcollective.co.uk

Daisy now has blogs on her home page

2010-02-26T06:28:00.000-08:00

daisy now has blogs on her homepage "accidentaldaisy" as she logged me into it right at the start.

i shall try to catch you up in a moment.....

right so here we are. i feel i have been failing in my duty as the kind of engine room, back office function for the running of this piece!!!

i have been trying t ofind ways to contact the world and see whats ou t there because i am small... there is lots to see and do...

i was using a site called "chat roulette" wher e you can be endlessly connected to randome people all over the world. it seems to be mstly men looking for women... so i seem to get cut off alot.

i also am researching timezones as i go.
i am working backwards from +12 GMT. .. every half of an hour, represents one time zone. i am to speak to someone in that timezone if i can and find out some things about that part of the world.

as i have said.... i ahve been failing.

That just changed as i spoke to Debbie in Singapore. I dont know who was more scared. probably me! i didnt know aht to say i was just so excited! first contact, There IS a world out there.

i am small... it begins.

2010-02-26T05:08:00.000-08:00

so... i am small the world is big starts... so far one picture taken... i´ll see if i can put it up... looks like i cant til i work out enough spanish to navigate my way round pablos´s laptop.

Its half hour number one and for me that means i am interrested in getting this all started.

every half hour i shall be trying to contact one person in a given timezone. Today we are working backwards from +12 GMT... so at one thirty i shall be trying to contact somebody in that timezone... its a weird one. i shall also be trying to keep you up dated and find out some interesting things about those places.
i want to reach out... i want to know what it is to live out there... in the world!

Where are you?

what is the biggest problem in the world today?

What is the biggest problem you face in your life today?

answers to iamsmall@accidentalcollective.co.uk

speak real soon!

Skype around the globe!

2010-02-19T15:47:00.000-08:00

Dear all…

As part of "i am small THE WORLD IS BIG" we are looking for people from all round the world to Skype with us!

We have divided the project’s 14 hours of duration amongst the different time zones, so that every half hour will be dedicated to a different area. What we are looking for is for people in these time zones to be connected for half an hour onto Skype and wait for a call from us.

So, if you know anybody around the world (it might be even yourself) we would really appreciate if you could read and pass around the following information.

Thanks a lot!

Pablo

……………………………………………………………….

Dear Potential Skypee....

We are Accidental Collective, South-East England's most exciting live-art and performance company. 2010 has seen us embark on our most ambitious and wide reaching piece of work to date. And we want you to be involved through Skype!

"i am small, the world is BIG" is a multi faceted, interactive performance-installation which seeks to bridge the gaps in our understanding of ourselves as individuals and the world at large.
Taking in such questions as "what one thing would you change to make the world a better place?" Accidental Collective seek to reach beyond their own experience of what it means to live in the 21st Century and speak to and of the world.
We're setting up a ‘sweatshop’ where voluntary collaborators will be stitching together a reconfigured world map. We'll be inviting people to change the world in their own ways and we'll be attempting to encapsulate the wealth of experiences and ways of life from around the world... a big task
In the first of many incarnations, i am small, the world is BIG is being installed in the Senate building of the University of Kent over the 26th and 27th of February this year. We are using the closest English University to mainland Europe as a launch pad for this exciting, ongoing work.

As part of our ‘out-reach’ into the world we are going to attempt to Skype one person in each of the worlds time zones every half hour for which the project is live. We'd be looking to talk for about 5 minutes about what its like where you are, the climate, politics, news and anything else really... we're just reaching out into the world... reaching out to you... We're working around the world from the International Date Line and would love to speak to people of every age, gender, creed, and any other way of categorizing the myriad of fellow humans around the globe.

What do you reckon?
5 minutes to connect with someone, free... are you?

Please look at the table below. And if you live in one of the states GTM zones and are free at the times stated, we would love you to be involve (times are stated using the 24 hour clock):

SATURDAY 27th February
GMT your time Countries (some examples)
+12 1:30 – 2:00 New Zealand
+11 1:00 – 1:30 Vanuatu, Solomon Islands
+10 00:30 – 1:00 Papua New Guinea, Eastern Australia (Sydney)
+9 00:00 – 00:30 Japan

FRIDAY 26th February
GMT your time Countries (some examples)
+8 23:30 – 00:00 Western Australia (Perth), Philippines, China
+7 23:00 – 23:30 Thailand, Vietnam
+6 22:30 – 23:00 Kazakhstan
+5 22:00 – 22:30 Pakistan
+4 21:30 – 22:00 Oman, United Arab Emirates,
+3 21:00 – 21:30 Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Moscow
+2 20:30 – 21:00 South Africa, Sudan, Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Romania, Ukraine
+1 20:00 – 21:30 Namibia, Algeria, Europe
0 19:30 – 20:00 Portugal, Mali, Cape Verde, Ghana

SATURDAY 27th February
GMT your time Countries (some examples)
-3 11:00 – 11:30 am Argentina, Brazil (Sao Paulo),
-4 10:30 – 11:00 am Bolivia, Venezuela
-5 10:00 – 10:30 am Peru, Colombia, New York,
-6 9:30 – 10:00 am Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mexico
-7 9:00 – 9:30 am USA (Denver) Canada (Edmonton)
-8 8:30 – 9:00 am Los Angeles, San Francisco
-9 8:00 – 8:30 am Alaska
-10 7:30 8:00 am Hawaii
-11 7:00 – 7:30 am Tonga, Samoa

If you might be able to be connected onto Skype between the above mentioned times and you'd like to take part in this innovative and all encompassing art event then send us your details to iamsmall@accidentalcollective.co.uk from there we shall endeavour to create a timetable and will be in touch with you shortly.

We'd love to hear from you!

Accidental Collective.

This project is kindly supported and commissioned by The Gulbenkian Theatre and WorldFest 2010.

----------------------------
Accidental Collective
www.accidentalcollective.co.uk
www.theworldofaccidentalcollective.blogspot.com

POSTER

2010-02-15T08:34:00.000-08:00

A while back we bought a second hand sewing machine with our meagre budget... Last Saturday Daisy came around my place and used it to put together the poster for i am small THE WORLD IS BIG. I think the final outcome is a thing of beauty. And that comes from me, who up to now had always designed the posters for our projects using rather crude tools. As a n homage to her creative vision and her perseverance, and as a second part or follow up to her first round against a hand-operated sewing machine here is a little video.

And of course, below you can see the final poster. You would think that something relatively minor like a poster or a postcard would not make us loose any sleep. Unfortunately, we have a somewhat perfectionist streak. Which means that we have to carefully consider every little thing, including the relationship between the publicity material and the project. Daisy and I agreed that, even though the poster does not illustrate the project's aesthetic it does reflect its sentiment/ethos rather nicely... Judge for yourself.

Pablo

The internet is for...

2010-02-15T07:57:00.000-08:00

As I am sure I have mentioned before I have a slight weakness/addiction for BBC documentaries. Recently I have been hooked on Dr. Aleks Kotroski’s The Virtual Revolution. Trekkie Monster, resident of Avenue Q, would do well in watching the second episode, Enemy of the State?, because he would quickly come to realise that the internet is not just for porn. In said episode Dr. Kotroski investigates how the internet can be used as a tool for individuals to “play David to the state’s Goliath”. The example that most stuck in my mind is that of Austin Heap. This young American living in San Francisco responded to the post-election disturbances in Iran with direct action. As civil unrest worsened, the Iranian government blocked sites such as Facebook and Twitter to restrict its citizens’ ability to upload information, photographs and footage of the repression onto the internet. On the other side of the globe Austin Heap sprang developed Haystack, a piece of encryption software that allowed Iranians to access the blocked sites without being detected. The story seemed to resonate with i am small THE WORLD IS BIG. As tiny individuals we can make a difference, whether big or small, that can reverberate throughout the world. Moreover, the fact that the internet had been used as a tool for empowerment is also relevant to our project. We are currently investigating the possibilities of using Twitter and Skype throughout the piece. Although the use of this technology will be somewhat reduced in February’s presentation, we fully intend to expand this aspect of the project in future versions.

You can see The Virtual Revolution by visiting http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qsbvv/The_Virtual_Revolution_Enemy_of_the_State/ And for those of you reading this from abroad (unfortunately BBCiplayer is only available in the UK), you can still find out about this fantastic documentary series by visiting http://www.haystacknetwork.com/ Finally, to learn more about Austin Heap and Haystack go to http://blog.austinheap.com/haystack-good-luck-finding-that-needle/

Pablo

SPACE II

2010-02-15T06:40:00.000-08:00

This is somewhat overdue, almost two weeks to be precise. As I mentioned in my previous post logistics and practicalities have, at this stage, a tendency to take over. But I have managed to steal a few hours to give you an update on our developments.

On Monday 1^st February we had a much awaited visit to the Senate Building. This was the first time we were properly able to explore the space and spend a significant amount of time in it. Our aim: to find our specific relationship with the building, and how we would situate i am small THE WORLD IS BIG within it. We were accompanied by Laura Hobbs (4^th year dramaturge student) and Sebastian Grau (MA student in European Theatre History). They had requested to see us in action because they will be writing about our creative process and the project in their respective dissertations. In the end their role was not merely passive and they helped us quite a bit, not just moving furniture about and figuring how to draw a crude plan of the space, but by asking questions that pushed us towards clarity. But I digress….

The two main practical issues we set to resolve were the audience’s route through the building and the layout for the ‘production line’ in the upstairs room. I will attempt to discuss the intricacies of the audience’s route first. i am small THE WORLD IS BIG will take the shape of a journey where the audience will be led though different rooms and areas: through the automated sliding doors and into the foyer, up the stairs to a welcome desk, into the main chamber and out again, down in the lift, into a small waiting area, into the vox-pop ‘booth’, and back out through the foyer into the wider world. The journey follows a logical, almost intuitive route through the building. Interestingly, it describes the outline of a spiral, first inwards towards the centre (where the large world map will be remade), and then outwards towards the world itself. This is strictly speaking not a one-at-a-time experience because for the most part, the audience will pass through communal areas (foyer, stairs, chamber, and waiting room). However, in line with the project’s concerns, we did want to offer some space where the audience members will stand as an individual: alone or in the company of a single performer. We therefore decided that the journey down in the lift will be taken by one person at a time, and designed the vox-pop ‘booth’ as a one-to-one performance exchange. The lift, to us, is a crucial moment. Even though the ride only lasts 10 seconds we hope this time spent alone will serve as a direct stimulus for personal reflection. This emphasis on the individual is also reflected in the way in which people will be led through the building. For Schengen Smile we used instructive posters and other similar devices that very clearly shepherded the audience: you must go here, you must wait here, you most not enter here, you must proceed here… For i am small THE WORLD IS BIG we wanted to use a less authoritative attitude, as we did not feel this would suit the project’s ethos and sentiment. We therefore have to strike a delicate balance between letting people know where to go and what route to follow, and maintaining a friendly and warm tone.

The layout of the production line, on the other hand, is set and secured. One the one hand is is always easier to work on the layout of one particular room (in this case the upstairs Senate chamber), rather than a whole route through a building. On the other hand, this is, at the end of the day, the project’s main thrust so it is not surprising that we were able to achieve a great level of clarity so quickly. When we first settled on the idea of setting up a ‘production line’ we instantly decided that the layout should be circular rather than in rows. Our aim was to quote, reference, or allude to industrial sweatshops rather than actually recreating one. Due to the project’s concerns the circle presented itself as the best and most logical option. Coming together, community, making a joint effort. Circle, circle, circle. On a more practical level, this option was the best one to fir the octagonal chamber where the ‘production line’ will be placed. But one question remained, how would be the circle organised? Since this ‘production line’ is made up of several stages and there are several workstations we would have to find logic to its layout. At the same time we were interested in the possibility of also quoting, referencing, and alluding to international conferences/summits. How would this be done? The answer came with a picture.

The above photograph was taken during the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh in September 2009. The layout suited out ‘production line’ perfectly:

- an outer circle of independent tables (for the cutting, the shredding, the sewing machines, and a workstation for the audience to directly contribute towards the map-making)

- an inner circle of chairs where collaborators will stitch their personal fragments by hand

- a central area where other collaborators will stitch together these disparate fragments, creating a large re-shaped world map on the floor.

We then simply decided where each of the various stages of the process and workstations would be placed. Our final decision was shaped by the building. On the one hand we followed its symmetry and alignment. On the other hand, following a spatial narrative, we placed the cutting-table nearer the door used by the audience to enter the space and the shredding-table on the far end. This layout will allow the audience to come into the circle following a spiral route (into the room, along the outside of the circle, and then into it). The route will be emphasised by the movement of collaborators coming and going on their shifts.

And so this is it. The stage is set.

Pablo

PEOPLE!

2010-02-05T04:22:00.000-08:00

February is well and truly upon us, which means there are only three weeks until i am small THE WORLD IS BIG opens its doors. If we have been somewhat absent from this space it is because we have now entered our production schedule proper; meaning that every day there’s something to decide, to do, to make. As a result the posts that will follow this one are somewhat retrospective (and will potentially be quite short).

Right now I wanted to tell you about people: the wonderful people who have come on board to the project. It strikes me that up to now we have never really worked with other ‘bodies’, other ‘doers’, other ‘makers’. So it is somewhat comical that we find ourselves in a situation were we are collaborating with over 20 individuals. That’s it, Accidental Collective jumps into the deep end! But don’t worry; we are taking like ducks to water.

At the beginning of January we sent out a call for participants who will become an integral part of i am small THE WORLD IS BIG. Due to the project’s themes we tried our best to gather people from a wide demographic (ages, backgrounds, etc). Once we had a significant number we organised a few meetings (on the last two Saturdays) where we gave some basic information about the project, noted their availability, answered questions, and also did some sewing/stitching (we prefer a hands-on approach). It was fantastic to meet everybody. Especially because it suddenly felt the project was happening. This is it.

i am small THE WORLD IS BIG was no longer an idea in our heads, but a reality. Moreover, we realised the project’s potential to generate ‘community’. As we sat together in the upstairs room of The Jolly Sailor (thank you to Ian - the landlord- for making this space available to us), there was a true coming-together. People who had never met before were embarking on a joint, creative effort. Together, each contributing their little bit, we were going to make something big happen. To say that this filled us with excitement is probably an understatement. This accidental community was full of potential beyond the project itself. If anything, one of the most direct benefits of these meetings was the exchange of stitching tips. The mother of more than one gentleman will be awfully proud that their son is picking up a needle and thread, and familiarising themselves with this ‘alien’ technology. On a more practical level, for us, these meetings were highly beneficial because suddenly it was not just three brains thinking about the project, but many more. Even though we had come up with the basic structure and framework of the project, some of the individuals involved clarified our thinking with their questions, whilst other still gave us some very interesting ideas: could the ‘workers’ do something in unison at some points, could the centre map be photographed every hour on the hour…

So, as a little tribute to all these people, here is a list of names of those who are involved to date:

Lewis Barron, Amyie Butler, Muriel van Cruchten, Jo Dyre, Olivia Farrant, Richard Franklin, Sebastian Grau, Laura Hobbs, Maggie Johns, Lorraine Keene, Liz Knowles, Phoebe Marsh, Jessica Nine, Alex Norcott, Mez Pondole, Hannah Riches, Estelle Rosenfeld, Daphne Seale, Marc Shilling, Alice Taylor, Catherine Ward, Gemma Williams, Paul Williams, Alex Wood

Thank you, thank you, tank you. To each and every one of you (and a special danke to Sebastian who let us upload the pictures he took during the first meeting).

And of course… We sill hope that more will join. The more the merrier!

Pablo

FIRST SESSION

2010-01-18T17:16:00.000-08:00

So...

Earlier this evening we all met at chez Rick's for our first session of stitching and sewing. There is, of course, nothing special about messing around with paper, needles and thread. But the fact that we were finally sitting down and experimenting with the finer details of the project was something we had all anticipated. So much so that we felt it was appropriate to document the moment (that and the fact that I have been meaning to properly test out my new laptop's recording capabilities - thanks Santa).

Fuelled by tea, jaffa cakes and crisps we gave ourselves wholeheartedly to the task at hand. As we tortuously progressed along the path of atlas-stitching ideas came to mind, questions arose, tips were exchanged, and a few bad jokes were shared. The process, I have to say, is quite meditative and sedate; something which we hope our collaborators will appreciate.

And here it is... For your eyes' delectation... Accidental Collective at it!

The final result, although not seen in the footage, was quite important. In just over an hour we managed to achive a significant chunk of reconfigured world map. So, we can only speculate, the final outcome of the project should be of an impressive size.

Later on Daisy, bravely, attempted to use Rick's mum's old hand-powered sewing machine. As a tribute to her courage and determination here is another little video. Unfortunately it was Daisy 0 - Singer 1. At least for now...

Pablo

EXIT

2009-12-31T10:41:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-12-22T12:48:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-15T10:41:00.000-08:00

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....

2009-12-15T04:40:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-13T08:26:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-08T03:15:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-23T05:47:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-10-23T05:46:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-10-14T04:27:00.001-07:00

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

2009-10-07T04:40:00.000-07:00

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...)

2009-04-21T13:24:00.001-07:00

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.

2009-04-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-19T15:14:00.001-07:00

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

2009-04-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-04-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

Click on me to see me big!

Third day... (Wednesday 15th April)

2009-04-16T07:28:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-14T16:26:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-04-12T13:40:00.000-07:00

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

2009-02-21T08:53:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-02-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-01-22T09:08:00.000-08:00

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.

Portrait of a nation and a Merry Christmas

2008-12-09T07:11:00.000-08:00

Well, its December and the sound of Christmas bells jingling in the distance… imminent are the gifts, decorations and the general merriment of the season.
Accidental Collective have been busy with the culmination of Portrait of a Nation. We’ve been in Liverpool with white suits and suitcases, bringing 17 cities from around the country to one big celebratory event.
Packed up in 17 suitcases we took; London, Leeds, Belfast, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Inverness, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Canterbury, Derby, Norwich, Oxford, Newcastle, Cardiff, Nottingham, all up to St Georges Hall, Liverpool.
What an event!!! We had to find a way to bring the essence of all of these places (some of which we’ve visited, some we haven’t)… no mean feat!
We started with geography, history, slang words, local folk’s thoughts about the place they’re from, our own associations, facts, figures and all sorts… in designing interactive suitcases to be scattered around the, frankly huge and inspiring, building. They were lost around the building so visitors could come across them, play with them, leave or take something. (As was the case with Birmingham, there was a tin of sweets - which went very quickly indeed.)

Donning our white costumes (for the very last time) we became lost travellers… travelling around the building in a group, pairs and on our own… lost? Bemused? Crazed? Or ephemeral figures strolling, talking, playing with the public as they investigate and tour the myriad of events, installations and performances mounted by the above named cities… you can only imagine the mind boggling dizziness of singing, dancing, laughing and wondering…
People wrote messages on luggage labels which we attached to ourselves, our suitcases and even other people - what they love or hate about the place they live… messages to other people from other cities… celebrating where we’re from and where we’re going…
Look at the pics… and you’ll get the idea a little!!!!!
Merry Jingle time From Accidental Collective

Lost in Translation: The Remix - Brought to you by Pablo.

2008-11-07T15:22:00.001-08:00

So, December approaches and we are working all steam ahead towards our presentation of Lost in Translation in Liverpool at St. George’s Hall. Since the piece was first shown throughout Canterbury in June it has undergone a number of changes. Back then we traipsed around the city centre, all dressed in white, carrying our white suitcases, and setting up a number of installations to represent various cities: Belfast, Oxford, London, Leeds, Liverpool, and Inverness. Lost in Translation aimed to map these other cities onto Canterbury city centre. However, in preparation to the piece being taken to Liverpool we have had to find a way of transposing this into an indoor environment. Since the venue is the beautiful and historic St. George’s Hall there were a number of practical limitations to take into account: no sticking tape onto the walls, no painting the floor, etc. As a creative exercise this has been a very interesting process. How does a project transform when the setting changes? How can the structure of a piece alter, whilst its spirit remains the same?

So, in answer to these questions, this is what we will be doing in Liverpool.
We will place 17 suitcases, one for each city participating in Portrait of a Nation (www.portraitofanation.net), around St. George’s Hall as if they were lost property (lost property – lost in translation, see, we are a witty bunch). These will all be different suitcases: old, new, trendy, practical…. Each of these suitcases will have a micro installation inside it, or spilling out to its immediate surroundings. Some of these installations will reprise our work for the Canterbury tour this summer (i.e. the a cut-out of the Thames snaking out of a suitcase), others will be completely new. The aim of each of these installations is to work as a mini-interpretation of each city (sometimes concrete, sometimes abstract). How do you fit a city into a suitcase? All suitcases will be interactive. For example, people will be free to rummage through some, whilst they will be able to take something away with them in other cases, or even leave something behind. The way in which the public should ‘relate’ to each suitcase will be clearly indicated in a set of instructions on the inside.
That all begs the question as to what we, as performers, will be doing during the day. We will still have the personas of lost tourists. We will be in our white costumes, with our white suitcases. Walking around the building individually we will directly talk to the public, asking them where they are from, what city they have visited…. Like tourists we will be collecting things. So, we will ask people to five us something from their city (whether it is a train ticket, receipt, or whatever they just happen to be carrying, or we will be able to write something down). We will then cover ourselves with these bits and bops, pinning them to our clothes and suitcases, or even allowing people to write directly on us. So, throughout the day we will become moving, changing, human-installations.

This new version of Lost in Translation will be shown at St. George’s Hall in Liverpool on Monday the 1st of December, from 2pm till 6:30pm, as part of the closing events of the Capital of Culture year.

POST POSTSCRIPT - Rick Reflects

2008-11-07T15:16:00.000-08:00

So the dust settles on a new performance. I still have 2 bags of table, desk and bedside lamps in my living room and I only picked up the shoes I left at the venue a couple of days ago.
We’re making to do lists and having planning meetings for the next project we’re delivering.
Feels very much like the post-performance week.
How did the show go?
Well, it sold out days in advance.
Hooray!
Planning and execution smooth and pain free.
Despite the potential havoc posed by a piano, failing light bulbs, and all the other little things that come up in the course of things, the show went smoothly.
Transitions, cues, moves and interruptions - just so.
Oddly enough, as smooth as it felt (and appeared?) it didn’t stop changing and growing until the point of performance. Endings, ways of holding hands, smiling, and shapes, orders all were subject to change until the audience were in.
Two solid days of rehearsal on the weekend prior to the show, we had drawn a solid line under the development of material. Hmm… the best laid plans of mice and men eh?
I think its ok though. It made the piece feel more alive when in its midst.
Site responsive work of the kind that we have made here lends itself to the ephemeral, knowing it is a one-off, a fluke in time, destiny…
In this space a gasp, a laugh, childlike characters in masks or something more sinister scatter and explode like fireworks flashing inconsistently, now near now far.
It won't be quite like that again.
It’ll splinter and reform, maybe to be something very different. For now we have to leave it packed up in bags and car-boots, quietly awaiting a revisit.

An Accidental Collective Lesson in How to Give Good Blog: Don’t be tardy with one’s posts. With apologies… Daisy's POSTSCRIPT rehearsal 29/07/08

2008-11-07T15:06:00.000-08:00

How do you feeeeeeel?

I will freely admit that leading this rehearsal was quite nerve-racking. Firstly, I don’t think I am designed for leading – in the traditional sense, I have no interest in directing, and that’s why I like devising. Our process thus far has been all four of us, in a room, and something melding together. This time we have designated these four rehearsals so that we all get a wide-open opportunity to explore the stuff that we want to out into the pot. Which is great and different and potentially incredibly useful. And also very scary. Secondly, the idea behind this bring-anything-to-the-table style starting point of the process was designed to give the project the best possible start. This project was not being created in answer to a commission; it was coming directly from ‘us’ (the motley quartet; the collective ‘us’; the royal ‘us’). Even if the stimuli or exercises did not come from somewhere personal, they involved the personal investment of ‘I want to make something about this. Basically even in these early stages, I think we knew that this project was going to be ‘our baby’ and as such even the dipping of one’s toe into the shallow water of ‘starting points’ seemed vital and important (I acknowledge this should not forgive the use of the over-sentimental term ‘our baby’, but it’s all I’ve got right now…)

Alright, Daisy, but what did you actually do?

I began by making two of us stand in front of the other two and performing an action repeatedly, or continuously. It began with handshaking (and went on to patting, poking etc [This is a bastardised Alison Oddey exercise – she says, “This exercise if about fostering the objective and subjective at the same time. The aim is to work spontaneously and instinctively, rather than thinking and interpreting the ideas of the image” Devising Theatre, Routledge, page 178]). The pair shook hands continuously and the other two had to shout out whatever associations / words / feelings came into their heads when looking at the action. It was an experiment of sorts, but I also wanted to see to what extent we could attempt to not censor our associations (even if they were poo, or aubergine…). This was inevitably harder than anticipated. But it served as an interesting warm up and introduced ideas of free association that I wanted to carry through the rehearsal.

And then?

I had brought in a huge array of objects to play with (something which had worked well in Laura’s rehearsal and which we had all agreed should be pushed further and in different directions). I lay them out on a table (they included, amongst other things: a glass jar, a compact, a boot, a dress, a teddy bear, a selection of images, cups and saucers, a teapot, books and various other curio). I laid out the chairs in the style of a ‘traditional’ dining room drama (sofa, two chairs straight on to the audience) and asked them each to pick an object and to find a place in the ‘scene’. They were not to pre-determine any factors, but just ‘go’ – which was very unfair of me and they gave it a good go. Accidental Collective improvising (‘faux’) naturalism was never something I thought I would see. When I clapped my hands they had to freeze – in an oppositional, ‘id’ moment where innermost, ambiguous feelings were captured in a moment – and then they had to go back to the improvisation. This carried on and we cut out dialogue from the impro, which seemed difficult, unnecessary and unhelpful. The silent impro interspersed with these dark, funny, surreal freeze-frames was much more interesting. The objects really carried the exercise, as they did not have predetermined characters or personas, rather the object dictated an action or task, which dictated a characteristic and so on. I began to introduce music (I wanted piano music, but in a pre-rehearsal flurry, settled for a Mozart Clarinet Concerto CD…) The exercise/impro became more manic with the music and the freeze came when the music stopped, and then the action continued began again, and we tried it the other way too. It became like some dark, delicious, messed up grown-ups’ game of Musical Statues. In the discussion that followed this, the general consensus was that it was something we had found difficult (I think because of the self-consciousness involved in asking three people who consider themselves ‘non-actors’ to perform a task so associated with ‘acting’), but that was worth revisiting…

And what’s with all these objects?

Finally, we had a little story time. I read this (abridged) extract from Vladimir Nabakov’s Transparent Things, Penguin, pages 12-14. This part of the book involves Hugh Person finding a pencil in a drawer in the Ascot Hotel, in which he is staying. Nabakov then preceeds to tell the elaborate history of this pencil. [This abridged extract does it no justice, go away and read it, it’s dead good. And to The Nabakov Estate - if I’ve made any typos please don’t sue me]…

“It was not a hexagonal beauty of Virginia juniper or African cedar, with the maker’s name imprinted in silver foil, but a very plain, round, technically faceless old pencil of cheap pine, dyed a dingy lilac. It had been mislaid ten years ago by a carpenter who had not finished examining, let alone fixing, the old desk, having gone away for a tool he never found. Now comes the act of attention.

In his shop, and long before that at the village school, the pencil has been worn down to two-thirds of its original length. The bare wood of its tapered end has darkened to plumbeous plum, thus merging in tint with the blunt tip of graphite whose blind gloss alone distinguishes it from the wood. A knife and a brass sharpener have thoroughly worked upon it and if it were necessary we could trace the complicated fate of the shavings, each mauve on one side and tan on the other when fresh, but now reduced to atoms of dust whose wide, wide dispersal is panic catching its breath, but one should be above it, one gets used to it fairly soon (there are worse terrors). On the whole, it whittled sweetly, being of an old-fashioned make. Going back a number of seasons (not as far, though, as Shakespeare’s birth year when pencil lead was discovered) and then picking up the thing’s story in the ‘now’ direction, we see graphite ground very fine, being mixed with moist clay by young girls and old men. This mass, this pressed caviar, is pressed in a metal cylinder which has a blue eye, a sapphire with a hold drilled in it and through this the caviar is forced. It issues in one appetising continuous rodlet (watch for our little friend!), which looks as if it retained the shape of an earthworm’s digestive tract (but watch, watch, do not be deflected). It is now being cut into the length required for these particular pencils (we glimpsed the cutter, old Elias Borrowdale and are about to mouse up his fore arm on a side trip of inspection but we stop, stop and recoil, in our haste to identify the individual segment). See it baked, see it boiled in fat (here a shot of the fleecy-fat-giver being butchered, a shot of the butcher, a shot of the shepherd, a shot of the shepherd’s father, a Mexican) and fitted into the wood.
[…]
Thus the entire little drama, from crystallised carbon and felled pine to this humble implement, to this transparent thing, unfolds in a twinkle. Alas, the solid pencil itself as fingered briefly by Hugh Person still somehow eludes us!”

So I asked everyone to imagine a history for an object and tell us its story. The stories ranged from fantastical to mundane and I found them fascinating, as did everyone else, and they were essentially monologues. No one was sure if they had the full potential for material. Anyhoo, that was my rehearsal – and I survived.

Pablo's POSTSCRIPT rehearsal 20/08/08

2008-09-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

I catch myself, momentarily, out of the corner of my eye. I write. Thinking retrospectively about our last POSTSCRIPT rehearsal, which I led, I am somewhat surprised about the extent to which text played a role. Text and me, that’s something new. As it turned out, the session was divided in two parts: beginning with physical work and then moving onto exploring new approaches to text. Outcomes? It is somewhat difficult to summarise them in just one sentence. Keep reading. Draw your own conclusions.

I suppose I ought to begin at the beginning. Sit. Stand. Walk. Run. Jump. Fall. These simple activities served as a restricted movement vocabulary within which we improvised. The space was cleared with the exception of a table, with a chair behind it, and second chair to a side, on its own. Though initially I had conceived this as merely a warm-up exercise which might get our blood flowing, something else entirely begun to happen. Ebbs and flows. The incessant sound of feet hitting the floor. Follow me. A pattern that is mirrored, copied and then inverted. Suddenly you leave. Where did you go? Somebody falls. Out of nowhere, a burst into running. Then stillness, and on we go. The ten minutes I had planned for this exercise seemed to fly by. We continued nonetheless, happy to let things develop, collapse upon themselves, and rise out of the rubble transformed. At one point I played some music (Mulholland Drive, tracks 9 and 17). Though there was not direct effect, its atmospheric moods seemed to resonate with what we are doing. Of course at the time one does not think, or plan, or analyse. Writing of it now though, the possibility strikes me. Could this simple structure be the starting point from which complexity emerges? As the exercise progressed relationships began to appear, and with them, an array of narratives. Stories that constantly broke up, reach dead ends, or dissipated into thin air. There is a similarity there with previous rehearsals (objects and lights), but I cannot put my finger on it. I also realise that we had not engaged in this kind of uninterrupted play way for quite some time. We seem to work best within these structures: setting rules for ourselves, letting them rearrange themselves as we go along. There was not much time to discuss afterwards, but Daisy says she found some of what happened strangely moving. Remembering her body on the floor, rolling away slowly as I walk towards her, I agree.
Next, I proposed a cycle. We began around the central table and chair. The rules: walk slowly towards it (museum pace); when you reach the chair, sit down; perform a single gesture or a brief action, as melodramatic or as subtle as you want, but without making a noise; as the next person slowly approaches the table, get up; walk around the table in a rectangle and repeat the cycle. Though at first it was a little bit difficult to get into this pattern, we soon got the hang of it and the activity came into its own. After a while I played a track on repeat (Ghosts of love by David Lynch). Whilst its repetitively hypnotic chords suited our slow walking perfectly, Lynch’s distorted voice gave our gestures and actions an unsettlingly eerie quality. Laura’s silent laugh was terrifying and seductive. Suddenly I realise the exercise can be taken a step further. I quickly set out a further three tables and chairs. Breaking the rectangular cycle around the central table we began to move freely between them. It worked, opening up the challenge of not knowing who would go to which table next. Again, disrupted narratives and glimpses of half-formed characters tie this to our previous explorations. We work in small units, pushing them, repeating them, turning them on their heads.
Now the text. First, Laura’s speech. As homework I had asked her to write a paragraph which a performer might address to an audience. From the beginning of the project we had decided that this would be, primarily, an image-based piece. I was interested in finding ways to disrupt the natural flow of a text. So, I asked her to write each work on a single piece of paper. (At the time I did not fully realise the time and effort this would take, so, Laura darling, thank you very much!) Rather than having Laura read the speech herself we gave the stack of prompt cards to Rick who read One. Word. At. A. Time. Not. Knowing. What. Word. Might. Come Next. The result was both comical and thrilling. As people who did not know the text either (an audience), Daisy and I sat at the edge of our seats Waiting. To. See. How. Each. Sentence. Would. Resolve. Itself. As Rick began to familiarise himself with this difficult process, he started to play with rhythm, reading a few words in quick succession, then allowing the pauses between them to be longer. The sense of anticipation was very effective. Moreover, there were points where Rick would intone a sentence which would suddenly change direction, so that he had to readjust constantly his delivery. In a way, the experience for the listener was similar to that achieved by certain editing techniques. Frame. Cut. Frame. Cut. Frame. At each point a surprise, sometimes a disappointment. Of course, the effect was heightened by the fact that Rick did not know the speech himself. This was confirmed when Laura, who had written it, read the text Word. By. Word. In this case, the quality was an altogether different one. That. Is. It. I Now Remember. Where. This. Idea. Came. From. A couple of years ago I read Mark Danielewski’s House of leaves (a terrific story). As the narrative progresses, the words on the pages begin to arrange themselves in unconventional ways. A paragraph there, another upside down, forcing the reader to physically turn the book around. At one point of particularly heightened tension the crowded pages give way to just one word per page. I. Now. Remember. The. Cinematic. Effect. This. Produced. And. How. Turning. The. Pages. Frantically. I. Was Lost. Within. Them.
More text. In this case I had asked Rick and Daisy to write a short dialogue each, except they would have to be the internal monologues of two people sat, silently, next to each other. I gave them free reign regarding the nature of the text. As it was, both Daisy and Rick’s writing sketched actual characters (with a history etc.). On the one hand, what interested me most about Rick’s was the way it was structured: one extract mirroring the previous one, but diverting from it (is this a coda?). On the other hand, Daisy’s text offered great opportunities for physical actions. I myself has also written an internal monologue, but one which was deliberately abstract (thoughts piled up next to each other). Now to the experiment. Rick and Daisy read their texts, each taking on ‘character’. Laura and I read various fragments from my writing. We captured all this on my old tape recorder (the undying charm of defunct technologies). Then, we all sat around a table just as our audience will do; and we took it in turn to press play and improvise a series of actions around the recorded text. What was interesting here was the juxtaposition of the disembodied voice and the performer: actions that preempt the text, actions that respond to it abstractly, or with minute realistic details. Because this was the end of the session we did not have enough time to delve too deep, but the possibilities seem very attractive, particularly when we begun rewinding and fast forwarding the tape, repeating, re-, rep-, repeating small extracts in an almost obsessive manner. As in our previous experiment with words, this was a strategy primarily aimed at subverting the use of text. In a way, I guess I was trying to adapt the internal narration often used in films (I had recently watched the Coen brother’s The Man Who Wasn’t There, which is full of wonderful examples). At the same time I wonder whether this idea was a subconscious adaptation/interpretation of Katie Mitchell’s work in Waves and …some trace of her; certainly our aesthetics are similarly D.I.Y. Not relying on a sound system for this will give us more flexibility in our movements, but also is more in keeping with the intimate character that POSTSCRIPT seems to be developing. Starting points. Starting points.

Rick's POSTSCRIPT rehearsal 13/08/08

2008-09-10T12:24:00.000-07:00

Well it’s always nice to come away from a rehearsal (especially when its for a stage show) feeling like you are a step closer to the final product. Or at least, understanding a little more what the final product is going to feel and look like. Today there occurred a moment when all those little lights in your head start to pop and sparkle… fitting as you’ll see.
I was a little intimidated at the thought of leading a rehearsal. In typical style I had a kind of end point in mind but was not able to pre-fabricate exercises and games to help it develop. So I turned up, homework in hand, praying for the best and trusting that we‘d grope onwards and upwards.
The homework I’d set the four of us consisted of asking everyone to watch a black and white film and bring a five line synopsis and a favourite quote. In addition I’d asked everyone to pay close attention to the scene transitions in their film to see if we could look for filmic ways of hanging material together.
I watched “Ed Wood“, a Tim Burton Film; Daisy had watched “Jules and Jim”, a Francois Truffaut film, Pablo offered up The Cohen Brothers new classic “The man who wasn’t there” and Laura the all time classic “Casablanca”.
I’d brought some table lamps of varying types along and placed them on tables around the space. We tried simply sitting at a table/lamp and talking about the films we’d chosen… given that we are trying to avoid text wherever possible we quickly changed tack.
More conductive was when we tried one person “narrating” their film to the others who sat at a table and used their lamp, turning them on and off, and exploring actions to, in some small way, “perform” the section pertaining to them.
We tried Casablanca with Pablo as Rick, Daisy as Elsa and Laura as Victor. I tried narrating the film and allowed the performers to light themselves and perform when they saw fit.
What were nice were the small actions, performed in the light of one lamp. So when I said Rick was a hard man who took no risks for anyone, Pablo did nothing more than lace his fingers and lean forward towards the lamp. This was the first eureka moment I guess. It was finding a form that suited and in some way reflected the ability of film to exist in close up, sharp focus on details of movement and express an attitude, thought, idea….
We tried some of the other films in the same way but it developed onwards when Daisy asked to re-run her narration of “Jules and Jim” as she had read it the first time out and she had missed our actions… then in amongst the ensuing conversation about pace we wondered about introducing rules to do with the lamps and when they were to be lit. So in addition to the performers reacting when the narrated plot seemed to call them to action we agreed that only one performer should be lit at a time…
Quickly this developed into games where narrative description melted away and we simply had images alternately lit by two “non-performing” performers.
As soon as we started to play with this we saw the endless possibilities of rules we could start imposing here. Performers being only allowed to move in the dark, performers not moving but the “non-performers” moving and changing the light sources, their regularity, clarity…
There also became this interesting third performer who was one of the “non-performers” who was simply waiting for it to be their turn to light. Their relation to the vignettes of scenes caught in freeze frame, in the light, became as interesting as the vignettes themselves. I found myself peering around; searching them out each time the scene became lit.
Suddenly it was half past nine and we realised we had been at it for two and a half hours and we ought to be getting on home. Sometimes you do really wish some rich patron would come along and offer to pay us all to have days and days of rehearsals so we can carry on and on when we get the bit between our teeth on material development…
Sad times.
Still in terms of a method for slotting together, unifying and differentiating material we seem to have hit upon something that has plenty of meat on the bone.I’m just glad my rehearsal groped its way somewhere…

Laura's POSTSCRIPT rehearsal 22/07/08

2008-08-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

I was the designated leader of the first rehearsal for POSTSCRIPT. Having had a previous ‘Ideas Session’, I selected a few things that we wanted to try out and experiment with. There was a focus on the use of props and the presence of these props in the space. I chose props to bring to the rehearsal and these included: a rose; wine glass; wine bottle; scarf; a painting; a knife; pen; paper and a jewellery stand in the shape of a woman. Each of these props could be used in a variety of settings to tell many stories but also allowed for individual interpretation depending on the placing and use of the prop within a moment.

We played games with a set number of props being chosen to create a ‘freeze’ moment or image, individually and in pairs. This then progressed to include movement or to change from one still image to another. The most interesting moments that were created through this exercise were ones that were filled with ambiguity or the possibility of many different interpretations. This happened in particular happened with the framed painting (of a couple dancing) when it was held in front of a face. Daisy and myself did this at different points and both had a different effect and meaning. At one point Pablo sat down and took the pen drawing a line down his face and body as if he was splitting in two, then Rick immediately repeated the action once Pablo had finished. Although a very simple action which was obviously being repeated there was something uncertain in it, which created an interesting tension for the performer and the spectator.

When working in pairs Pablo and Daisy were using the scarf and created a ‘scene’ where Pablo was sat on the chair and Daisy on his knee and both of their faces were wrapped up in the scarf. It was eerie yet subtle. Daisy and I then tried it with Rick and Pablo directing us to escape from the scarf which ended up with me and Daisy finding each other under the scarf saying ‘Hello…hello’ and screaming on the discovery of the other. As a performer it was exhilarating as it happened purely by chance and for Rick and Pablo watching it was completely unexpected.

In the last exercise in the rehearsal all the props were placed to one side of a table and then we took it in turns to sit down at the table and use the props to tell a story but we were not allowed to speak. Each of the four stories were completely different and there seemed to be a contrast between a few small moments connected and a fluid constant change in the movement of objects to create an epic. After each story we all said what we thought it had been about and what was exciting was the variety of interpretations we took from each one. What this kind of work allows for is the audience to create their own narrative that comes from watching the detail versus the abstract use of the props. We all agreed that these ‘scenes’ were like six word stories, but in silence (Ernest Hemingway’s six word story is the most famous: 'For sale: baby shoes, never worn.'). The small and intimate nature of these stories, which I think would work well at the tables in Bramley’s, created energy and captivated each of us. When we come back to work on material generated through these initial rehearsals this is something we really want to play with and see how we can develop and develop this way of story telling.

BIKINI State

2008-07-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

STAY ALERT!

Accidental Collective presents its latest piece, BIKINI
State as part of Hazard Festival. Saturday 12th of July, Manchester, Exchange Square, from 13:00 until 16:00.

Picture the scene: Kent. The Garden of England. The home of hops, orchards, twin-sets and pearls … Oh, and Accidental Collective, an innovative performance company interested in creating innovative live events that hybridise art forms and explore new territories.
Straddling live art and performance, Accidental Collective caters for audiences living in an age of microwave meals, Internet and reality TV. Using unorthodox strategies for performance making, the company explore the limits of ‘theatre’. Accidental Collective seeks to engage with audiences in a provocative way, interrogating their role within the live event.

Since its formation in 2006, Accidental Collective has been disrupting The Kentish Idyll with interventions in the public sphere. Now they are braving the North-South odyssey to deliver BIKINI State to Manchester, as part of Hazard Festival.

‘BIKINI State’ is the name for the system used by the Ministry of Defence to indicate the level of non-specific forms of terrorist activity. Established in 1970, it predates the newer, more publicised and general 'UK Threat Levels' (in use since 2006).

You have seen it before: rifles, balaclavas, hazard tape, gasmasks, men in white protective gear. Drawing on images deeply embedded in the nation's consciousness, BIKINI State introduces a cast of exaggerated personas in a series of independent yet thematically linked vignettes. A bizarre mix of live art, comedy and activism, BIKINI State subversively tackles some of the issues related to expressions that have recently gained so much currency, such as 'the reign of terror' and 'fear culture'.

On Saturday 12th July 2008, between 13:00 and 16:00, BIKINI State will be unleashed upon Exchange Square in Manchester, an area redeveloped after the 1996 IRA bomb attack. Through this playful and provocative intervention, Accidental Collective aims to perform a sort of communal catharsis. BIKINI State aims to puncture your experience of the everyday, challenge your assumptions and your deepest fears. In the grand tradition of Great British satire BIKINI State intends to explore a potentially explosive issue with tongue in cheek. ‘BIKINI State’ is currently set on 'Black Special'. The current 'UK Threat Level' is 'Severe'. Stay alert!

BIKINI State has been produced by hÅb and greenroom as part of the one-day-festival Hazard.

For more information email info@accidentalcollective.co.uk

http://www.habarts.org/archives/category/now/hazard
http://www.greenroomarts.org

LOST IN TRANSLATION

2008-06-12T13:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday 21st June from 1 - 4 pm in and around Canterbury City Centre.

Cambo with another normal Saturday? What’s the craic? Come down to Canterbury city centre on the 21st June and discover something nang!

Discover British cities mapped over Canterbury; which cities will you find where? How do we understand our city and how do others understand theirs? And what gets lost in translation?

Kent’s premier performance company, Accidental Collective reveal their new work, Lost in Translation, on Saturday 21st June in their home city of Canterbury. Accidental Collective has performed in shop windows, beaches, and bars, and now this up and coming young company are taking to the streets.

Accidental Collective has collected slang words from young people in a number of cities across the U.K. Lost in Translation will span eight sites and include seven cities, including Canterbury, Manchester and Inverness, amongst others. The slang words collected have helped to create a series of small performances and installations that will be unpacked and performed at various points from Westgate up to St. George’s clock tower (opposite Fenwick). Accidental Collective will unveil Oxford outside the Library and create the Thames along Guildhall Street…

Lost in Translation is part of Canterbury City Council’s 'Summer in the City’ programme and is one of the works that will be representing Canterbury in The Capital Of Culture's 'Portrait of a Nation' project in December in Liverpool. Lost in Translation is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and made with the kind support of Canterbury City Council.