Creative Resistances

John Jordan Workshop

A weekend workshop for EEC 2005 exploring methodologies of art and activism

Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 September 2005
Times: 10am to 6pm
Costs: £10
Location: Mile End Park, Arts Pavilion

Deadline for applications: 30 August 2005

The Workshop

Creative Resistances will bring together 25 artists/activists to explore the relationship between art and activism during a two-day workshop. Sharing skills and ideas participants will look at ways that creativity can be applied directly to movements for social and ecological change. The workshop is suitable for those who are interested in live work which does not merely represent a political issue, but is directly confronting and transforming the issue itself. If what you make (or have always dreamt of making) are radically engaged performances that look neither like art nor activism but take the best of both of these worlds, that sit somewhere between direct action and live art, resistance and creativity then this workshop is for you.

The workshop will cover a range of methodologies, ranging from culture jamming to rebel clowning, organising mass street actions to clandestine subvertising and numerous other forms of art activist methodologies.

Creative Resistances will offer participants a focused framework for their continuing artistic and professional development by encouraging an awareness of the issues impacting on their practice, enhancing the range of approaches and skills available to them and inspiring new ways of working.  In exploring the issues of art, activism and Human Rights, the workshop will inform, and be informed by, the development of PSi#12: Performing Rights, a gathering of artists, activists and academics concerned with Human Rights in June 2006.

The Context

East End Collaborations (EEC) is a joint initiative between East End Collaborations (the Company), Queen Mary, University of London and the Live Art Development Agency offering a range of support structures for graduates and emerging artists working with Live Art and based in London.  Since its inception in 1999, East End Collaborations has developed into an annual event that aims to respond to the professional development needs of artists who are at an early stage of their practice by providing a platform to showcase their work, a mentoring scheme, documentation support and opportunities to access information and advice from experienced practitioners.

East End Collaborations has helped to establish Queen Mary as an important site for performance research and as a result of this profile, and of the University’s ongoing work with issues of social inclusion and Human Rights, Queen Mary in association the Live Art Development Agency has been selected to host the 12th Performance Studies International Conference.  PSi#12: Performing Rights will take place in London from June 14 to 18 2006 and will be a gathering of artists, activists and academics who are making and researching performance that declares its interest and intent within the field of Human Rights.

For PSi#12 East End Collaborations will produce Performing Rights, a programme of events that will attempt to create a context in which to present work engaging with issues of Human Rights, to create work investing in issues of Human Rights and to equip artists and activists to tackle issues of Human Rights.

As part of the development of Performing Rights, East End Collaborations have initiated a number of projects in 2005 to create a context to consider questions of performance, activism and Human Rights and to resource artists engaging with these issues in their practice, including, Creative Resistances a weekend workshop with John Jordan.

The Workshop Participants

The Creative Resistances workshop is aimed at 25 participants who will be selected through an open application process.

Participants must have a declared interest in issues of art and activism, and direct experience of working with Live Art or Creative resistance and related experimental performance practices.

The workshop is particularly aimed at artists/activists who are at an early stage of their artistic and professional development.

Participants must be able to commit themselves to both days in full.

The cost of the Creative Resistances workshop is £10 per person in total.

The Application Process

To apply to take part in Creative Resistances please send a short statement about the nature of your practice, why you would like to participate in the workshop, what you think you can bring to the workshop, and how you think the workshop will contribute to your practice.

Please include your full contact details including your postal address, landline and mobile numbers and email address.

Your statement should be emailed to:

Rose Sharp
Creative Resistances /East End Collaborations
[email protected]

Or posted to:

Rose Sharp
Creative Resistances /East End Collaborations
Room 4.01 @ The People’s Palace
School of English & Drama
Queen Mary, University of London
Mile End Road
London E1 4NS

by 30 August 2005 at the latest.

Participants will be notified about whether they have a place by 3 September.

The Organiser

John Jordan, spends his time trying to find a space where the imagination of art and the social engagement of politics can be brought together. For 10 years he was a co-director of Platform, the London based art and social science group. Since 1994 he has worked in the direct action movements, principally with Reclaim the Streets (1995-2001). He co-edited “We Are Everywhere: The irresistible rise of global anticapitalism” Notes From Nowhere (eds.), Verso, London/New York, 2003 and, in 2005 developed a new Live Art touring project the “Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination”. Last year he co-founded  “The Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army” which merges civil disobedience with clowning, and was a key part of the mobilisations against the G8 summit in July this year.

Further details

East End Collaborations 2005 aims to respond to the professional development needs of artists who are at an early stage of their practice by providing opportunities to showcase their work through the open submissions EEC Platform (17 and 18 September), and to access information, advice and expertise through the training day Everything You Wanted To Know About Live Art But Were Afraid To Ask (1 October).

For information or bookings for East End Collaborations 2005 contact:

Rose Sharp
East End Collaborations
Room 4.01 @ The People’s Palace
School of English & Drama
Queen Mary, University of London
Mile End Road
London E1 4NS

Telephone:  0207 882 5196

Email: [email protected]

For more information about PSi#12: Performing Rights visit www.psi12.qmul.ac.uk

East End Collaborations 2005 is financially assisted by Arts Council England.