DIY: 2014 – Geraldine Pilgrim ‘A World of your own’

A developmental exercise in becoming someone else.

Project summary:
This project looks at different ways of transforming identity in performance and how by creating a visual world to inhabit, both in the imagination and reality, an artist can become someone else. A World of your own, is chance to look at ways we can inhabit a world of our own making, creating images that are internal made external, e.g be the woman in a black hat in the hotel foyer constantly re reading a letter, sit on a park bench surrounded by piles of plastic bags but drinking Prosecco and eating strawberries.

Would you like to behave in a way that you would not normally behave- go where you want to go, be who you want to be, not who you are?

As part of exploring different ways of transforming identity in performance, 5 people including myself will be given the opportunity to each spend up to £100 in order to become someone else. We will, then use this experience to create a performance/installation response on the Sunday of the development week end.

It’s important that this is not seen as a chance to disguise yourself in fancy dress for a day or as an actor’s exercise in character improvisation. This DIY is about exploring and creating interior worlds to inhabit externally. Exploring the power of the human presence in public spaces – a sense of what different processes can be engaged with to become a different persona with behavioural and visual aspects created from imagination.

Dates, times and location(s):
Saturday 20 September: One- to- one meeting with Geraldine Pilgrim –time tbc-Contact Manchester
During the week of the 21 – 26 September: Individual A world of my own tasks to take place on a date, time and location of your choice
Saturday 27 September and Sunday 28 September:
10.30am-5.30pm Contact Manchester

Application procedure:
Please write a letter including:

a paragraph that simply explains what identity you would like to transform into for a day to become someone else.
a paragraph on how you would spend £100 in order to become someone else.
a paragraph on why exploring the transformation of personal identity in performance and becoming someone else for the day  is of interest to you
a paragraph about yourself and also please attach a CV.

Participants can be students, graduates, emerging or mid-career artists and come from any area of artistic practice.

Please send your letters and cv via email to Geraldine Pilgrim, cc’ing Aaron Wright.

Deadline, noon, Monday July 21st.

The artist:
Geraldine Pilgrim Director/Designer and Installation artist works across theatre and the visual arts; transforming buildings, landscapes, theatres and historic sites. She is also Artistic Director of Corridor, a performance company she set up in 2000 to continue to create site-specific events often working in collaboration with young people, older people and arts and community groups.

Her particular site work specialises in installations and performances  in unusual buildings and landscapes where the architecture of the site is used as inspiration and narrative, gradually revealing memories and atmospheres that have built up over the years, She trained as a fine artist and theatre designer, co- founded and became Artistic Director of Hesitate and Demonstrate the influential visual theatre company which toured Britain and mainland Europe and has since been making installations, theatre based performances and large and small scale site-specific events. She is also an Artsadmin Artist, an associate lecturer at Wimbledon College of Art, and a visiting lecturer at Goldsmiths College and Central St Martins.
www.artsadmin.co.uk/artists/geraldine-pilgrim                         
www.geraldinepilgrim.com

Contact:
Geraldine Pilgrim

This project is part of DIY 11: 2014 and is supported by Contact Manchester.