Lecture in Leipzig

Heike presented a lecture, entitled Eventful Evidence: Between Memory and Archive, as part of the ARCHIV/PRAXIS Arbeitstagung Conference, Tanzarchiv und Universität Leipzig, 10–13 December 2009.

For future presentations visit http://www.performance-wales.org/english/events/lectures.htm

The Gingell archive - continued

In the past week, we've finished working through John Gingell's archive, collecting the final few photos and scans of documents and also going through a huge number of negatives of performances, mainly from the early 1970s. Now, Rebecca is going to begin contacting Zoo Group members to arrange a reunion. If you were a member of the Zoo Group and you'd like to be a part of this, please get in touch.

We have also been given a TV documentary from 1975 on Llanover Hall, which includes some wonderful footage of John Gingell building his tower beside the hall, and talking about the ideas behind it. The tower was unfortunately pulled down and replaced by a car park. The picture here shows Mike Pearson marking where the original tower stood, long gone, but not forgotten.

Sited Interview: Mike Pearson in Cardiff

View IWFYAT-Site-1 in a larger map

We organised our first Sited Interview today with Mike Pearson. Mike took us back to a number of performance sites in Cardiff that were active in the late 1960s to the mid-1970s and spoke about his memories of works that he saw or performed there. These included the lecture theatre in the former Arts Block of Cardiff University, now the Law Building (where the Pip Simmons Group once performed); the School of Engineering (where Geoffrey Axworthy programmed a season of experimental theatre work in the early 1970s); the former Casson Theatre; Llanover Hall in Canton, home to numerous workshops and summer schools; and the Sherman Theatre, which opened in 1973 with a special performance by Welfare State. Among the sites that have since disappeared is the shop in Queen Street (now buried under the Capitol Shopping Centre) where Christine Kinsey and Bryan Jones organised art events in 1969, prior to opening Chapter.

Full video documentation of the site visits with Mike will be available soon.

Barry Summer School

Heike and Rebecca met up with Eira Moore today in her house in Barry for cake and a chat about the legendary Barry Summer School. Eira's late husband, Leslie Moore, was Vice-Principal of the School during its most important period in the 1960s and 1970s. Then, the Barry Summer School was a place where tutors such as Tom Hudson, George Brecht, Robin Page, John Epstein and many others pioneered new approaches to art education. Eira herself, who trained in movement with Rudolf Laban, taught at the School for a couple of years.
If you were a student or teacher at Barry Summer School, please get in touch with the project!

Tom Hudson at the Barry Summer School 1965, introducing a programme of happenings.

Research Seminar at York St John University

Heike presented a research seminar, entitled 'Performance (in) History – Archives, Memories and Re-enactments', at York St John University on the 23 November 2009.

Research Seminar at Surrey University

Heike presented a Research Seminar, entitled 'Eventful Evidence: Performance Historiographies', at the Department of Dance, Film and Theatre at Surrey University on the 20 November 2009.

John Gingell's collection of papers and documents

We've been working on John Gingell's archive in Cardiff.  Gingell taught at Cardiff College of Art (now Cardiff School of Art and Design) from the mid-1960s. He co-founded the 'Space Workshop' or 'Third Area' at the College, from which many performance and time-based artists emerged over the years. He was also a member of the Zoo Group, which created collaborative performance events in the early 1970s.

The archive is fascinating, with hundreds of photos of performances, along with scripts, notes, cast lists and the odd prop.  We hope to add all of this into our database soon and then post it on the website.

If you were one of John Gingell's students, or part of the Zoo Group, then we'd love to hear from you.  Please email mail@performance-wales.org

Oral History Training

Heike took part in the Digitisation and Digital Editing: An Introduction for Oral Historians training at the British Library in London today. More information on the course is available here: http://www.ohs.org.uk/training/digitisation.php

Conference Presentation in Lithuania

Heike presented 'Performing the History of Performance: Re-enacting 1960s performance art' at the The Past is Still to Change: Performing History from 1945 to the Present International Conference, which took place at the Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania, from the 21 - 23 October 2009. The paper discussed Heike's 're-do' of the Aberystwyth Fluxconcert 1968. More information on the Fluxconcert is available here: http://www.performance-wales.org/english/events/AberystwythInFlux.htm

Third phase of the project

The third phase of the project (1 October 2009 - 31 March 2010) intends to:
- undertake a series of archival visits
- undertake a number of oral history interviews
All data from the research will be entered into the project's database and transcriptions from the interviews will be made available online in due course.

Photo from a happening in Cardiff in the mid-1960s. If you have any information on this event please get in touch!