Amy Rosa receives The Adrian Howells Award for Intimate Performance

In 2017 Take Me Somewhere announced the second iteration of the Adrian Howells Award for intimate performance, seeking a UK based artist to develop and present a new performance based project in Glasgow and London, celebrating and furthering the legacy of Adrian Howells in the field of intimate performance. We are pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2018 award is Amy Rosa.

Adrian Howells (1962 – 2014) was one of the world’s leading figures in the field of one-to-one and intimate performance. Over two decades he developed an artistic practice that focused on the particular power and transformative possibility that could be achieved through creating a profound, immediate and personal connection to his audiences. Through these works and the care he took in every aspect of the experience he was often able to deeply affect those who participated in these encounters.

Amy Rosa is a live artist based in Scotland working predominantly with found materials, mostly from woods, beaches and parks, creating spaces that focus on healing. One of her main focusses is on creating an open dialogue about disabilities that are still viewed with scepticism, ‘invisible’, chronic conditions, using durational action, ritual and installation.

Amy will use the Award to undergo a year-long process merging quantum theory, mindfulness and meditation called Untitled (Ice). Every day she will contribute to an ice diary, meditating on 365 cylinders of ice as they freeze, culminating in a durational piece of intimate performance, where they form a plinth, containing the concentrated thoughts and feelings from each day, carefully gathered for a year then slowly melting away as the artist rests on top.

One of the most bizarre premises of quantum theory, which has long fascinated philosophers and physicists alike, states that by the very act of watching, the observer affects the observed reality. If so, how do we affect the environment around us? Tracking the crystal formations in the ice throughout the year, Amy Rosa will monitor the correlation between fluctuation of mood and the symmetry and aesthetic of the crystals patterns.

Amy has been awarded £4000 towards Untitled (Ice), and will work between Take Me Somewhere in Glasgow and Battersea Arts Centre in London to develop and show the project in 2019.

The Adrian Howells Award is presented by Take Me Somewhere, National Theatre of Scotland, Battersea Arts Centre, LADA and University of Glasgow.