DIY: 2012 – Live Art and the 1882 Walsall Anarchist Bomb Plot

Sean Burn and Mike Layward

Live Art and the 1882 Walsall anarchist bomb plot

Walsall

DIY 9: 2012 – Call for Participants

A Live Art weekend looking at the nature of freedom.

Project summary:
There is an official blue heritage plaque at 238 Stafford Street, Walsall: ‘Joseph Deakin, famous anarchist and founder-member of Walsall Socialist Club, lived here in the nineteenth century’. Walsall also saw the anarchist bomb plot of 1892, where a group of anarchists was set up by a policeman (so no change there). Joseph Deakin received a 5 year prison sentence, while others received 5 – 10 years. Fast-forward to the present day and the Metropolitan Police and their recent information mailing asking what should you do if you discover an anarchist living next door? The answer, according to an official counter-terrorism notice circulated in London, is that you must report them to the police immediately. This is the melting pot on historical and contemporary freedom and restrictions that Mike Layward (artistic director of DASH) and sean burn (independent writer / performer / outsider artist) will host in a Live Art weekend looking at the nature of freedom.

Dates, times and location:
Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 October 2012. 11am until 4pm both days.
The New Art Gallery, Gallery Square, Walsall, WS2 8LG.

Application procedure:
We are looking for 6 – 8 artists to join us on this two day exploration. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Please email sean burn on [email protected] (cc’d to [email protected]) with a short paragraph on why you’d like to be part of this opportunity. Please phone sean burn on 07834-373710 or email him if you have questions you wish to ask.

Participants will need to arrange their own travel and accommodation where necessary.

One place still available – get in touch soon.

The artists:

sean burn is a writer, performer and outsider artist with a growing international reputation. he is also actively involved nationally in disability arts. he was shortlisted for a dadafest disability arts award 2009 and in 2011 successfully completed a major artist in residence project at the new gallery walsall in association with dash (disability arts shropshire), reclaiming the languages of lunacy. recent performances include those for arcadea; cesta, czech republic; dada-south; dash and the live art development agency; the door (birmingham rep); fotofeis and grampian hospital arts trust; fold and fred; gulbenkian canterbury and lit up; humber mouth festival; interarte, germany; lancaster university and lancaster litfest; new word order; odins glow; ovada; platform 00000008; shout festival; stanley picker gallery.

Mike Layward has worked in the arts for nearly 40 years, as a performer, musician, carnival designer, maker, puppeteer, producer, director and live artist. Since 1999, Mike has been Artistic Director of DASH (Disability Arts in Shropshire) and has been instrumental in DASH gaining a national reputation as a Disability Visual arts organisation. Mike Co-created and produced M21 with the Live Art Development Agency in 2012. M21 is an Unlimited funded project and part of the Cultural Olympiad. Nine new pieces were commissioned by UK and Croatian Live artists.www.m21dash.org. Mike’s recent work as the ‘Wandering Jew’ includes: ‘Genocide (2009)’: performed in Shrewsbury as part of Holocaust Memorial day and as part of sean burn’s residency at the Stanley Picker Gallery. ‘What would you take?’ (2010): a film piece on dispossession. ‘The Politics of Confinement’ (2012): a performance on land enclosures, performed at M21. Mike’s philosophy is based on the belief that the arts can be a vehicle for social change. Mike has an MA in Activism and Social Change (Leeds University, 2009).

Contact information:
Please email in the first instance: [email protected]

This project was a response to the DIY 9 Call for Proposals