So how did i get here, a 5 week residencyPere Maguella, Brazil?
Originally this project was based around a reworking of Handprint (a previous project of mine), which after months of dialogue had finally been approved and contracted as a major commission. I was consulted on the potential to extend Handprint, working with an established Brazilian artist to create a dual installation in UK and Brazil.
The real start of this project was six days of workshops split between Liverpool and London in November, where a number of artists and organisations came together to try and plan the project. We quickly realised Handprint was too defined a project for a genuine collaboration, so after a lot of discussion and brainstorming “Humble Market’ was born.
What I love about this project is that it is a genuine collaboration between new media Artists (me and Jimi) and contemporary dramatists/ performers (Jade and Jorge from Zecura Ura). And the key to all of us is placing the audience/participant at the centre of the work.
“Humble Market” will start as the summer exhibition in FACT before expanding into more of a performance piece in Preston for the NW Cultural Olympiad finale. It will then hopefully become a catalyst/platform for more collaboration between UK and Brazilian artists leading up to the 2016 games in Rio.
The first few weeks were spent really trying to nail the core idea behind “Humble Market” so we can apply it to the formats we have been developing.
We also spent four days working over the carnival period (not in Rio but the town I am staying in), filming from a car in the main drag out of all the windows as the carnival pours past.