This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2016/jul/12/glasgow-imaginary-festival-adrian-howells-theatre
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Glasgow's Imaginary festival is true to the creative spirit of Adrian Howells | Glasgow's Imaginary festival is true to the creative spirit of Adrian Howells |
| (1 day later) | |
| Wander around Glasgow this summer and you can experience some quite extraordinary performances. There’s Tilda Swinton playing David Bowie, a Willy Wonka-style promenade through the Tunnock’s Teacakes factory and a re-enactment of Black Friday. Want to see them? Well, they exist on posters dotted around the city, but are only brought to glorious life in the imagination of the viewer. It makes us collaborators, and creates a space in which anything can happen | |
| Related: Scottish independence? In theatre, it's long-established | Related: Scottish independence? In theatre, it's long-established |
| These theatrical extravaganzas are part of the Imaginary festival, created by Andy Field and other artists and produced by Jackie Wylie, the former artistic director of the Arches, the sudden closure of which in 2015 was like a wrecking ball through the creativity of a city that always punched well above its weight in its number of artists and the scope of their influence internationally. | These theatrical extravaganzas are part of the Imaginary festival, created by Andy Field and other artists and produced by Jackie Wylie, the former artistic director of the Arches, the sudden closure of which in 2015 was like a wrecking ball through the creativity of a city that always punched well above its weight in its number of artists and the scope of their influence internationally. |
| Glasgow’s artists are bloodied but unbowed. The Imaginary festival is a glorious reminder of the need to keep fighting for what seems like the impossible. It reflects Glasgow’s artists’ determination to keep the city which, ever since it was European Capital of Culture in 1990, has been a fearless place full of possibilities for artists and audiences. It is not an exaggeration to say that the effects of being European Capital of Culture are still felt. | Glasgow’s artists are bloodied but unbowed. The Imaginary festival is a glorious reminder of the need to keep fighting for what seems like the impossible. It reflects Glasgow’s artists’ determination to keep the city which, ever since it was European Capital of Culture in 1990, has been a fearless place full of possibilities for artists and audiences. It is not an exaggeration to say that the effects of being European Capital of Culture are still felt. |
| The opening of the Imaginary festival coincided with the launch of It’s All Allowed, an exquisitely produced book edited by Deirdre Heddon and Dominic Johnson and published by the Live Art Development Agency. It charts the life, work and performances of Adrian Howells, who died in 2014. Howells was an artist who worked in unexpected locations and was gifted with a delicate skill in audience interaction. His performances were always full of infinite possibility, not least in making you confront your own self. | The opening of the Imaginary festival coincided with the launch of It’s All Allowed, an exquisitely produced book edited by Deirdre Heddon and Dominic Johnson and published by the Live Art Development Agency. It charts the life, work and performances of Adrian Howells, who died in 2014. Howells was an artist who worked in unexpected locations and was gifted with a delicate skill in audience interaction. His performances were always full of infinite possibility, not least in making you confront your own self. |
| The book celebrates not just his pioneering approach to intimate and one-on-one performance but also his generosity as a performer and a collaborator, and the way his own mental health issues were intrinsic to his work. It is, as Adrian himself would have said, “gorge-arse”. There are perceptive essays from Tim Crouch (who worked with Howells on The Author), Jennifer Doyle, Marcia Farquhar, Rosana Cade and many others. It is not just a celebration of an extraordinary body of work but also a handbook for those working in the tricky, ethically fraught area of intimate performance; of how to negotiate the territory in order to explore the greatest of all possibilities and yet also ensure the safety of audiences and makers. | The book celebrates not just his pioneering approach to intimate and one-on-one performance but also his generosity as a performer and a collaborator, and the way his own mental health issues were intrinsic to his work. It is, as Adrian himself would have said, “gorge-arse”. There are perceptive essays from Tim Crouch (who worked with Howells on The Author), Jennifer Doyle, Marcia Farquhar, Rosana Cade and many others. It is not just a celebration of an extraordinary body of work but also a handbook for those working in the tricky, ethically fraught area of intimate performance; of how to negotiate the territory in order to explore the greatest of all possibilities and yet also ensure the safety of audiences and makers. |
| Towards the end of the book, there is moving account of a round table discussion in which Glasgow artists talk about the hole left behind by Adrian, how that hole can’t be filled and yet how the community must move on, in the spirit that it’s “all allowed” (which was Adrian’s motto), because that’s the only way the possibilities can be sustained. That’s all the more true in the wake of the closure of the Arches. | Towards the end of the book, there is moving account of a round table discussion in which Glasgow artists talk about the hole left behind by Adrian, how that hole can’t be filled and yet how the community must move on, in the spirit that it’s “all allowed” (which was Adrian’s motto), because that’s the only way the possibilities can be sustained. That’s all the more true in the wake of the closure of the Arches. |
| The launch of the Adrian Howells Award for Intimate Performance provides an opportunity for a Scottish based artist to develop and present a new performance based project in Glasgow and London. The award, and projects such as the Imaginary festival, remind us that the spirit of both the Arches and of Adrian Howells is alive and that Glasgow’s artists and producers are determined to create new programmes of work, make the space for a diverse community of artists to flourish, and ensure that Glasgow retains its national and international significance as a place where possibilities are turned into realities and there are no limits on the imagination. | The launch of the Adrian Howells Award for Intimate Performance provides an opportunity for a Scottish based artist to develop and present a new performance based project in Glasgow and London. The award, and projects such as the Imaginary festival, remind us that the spirit of both the Arches and of Adrian Howells is alive and that Glasgow’s artists and producers are determined to create new programmes of work, make the space for a diverse community of artists to flourish, and ensure that Glasgow retains its national and international significance as a place where possibilities are turned into realities and there are no limits on the imagination. |