Merchant City Festival & The Work Room - Research Residencies 2020
Artists Announced
The Work Room and the Merchant City Festival are collaborating again in 2020 to support two choreographers to explore making work for outdoors/ public spaces and to undertake a period of practical research towards a new piece of work.
Despite the cancellation of the standard outdoor presentation of Merchant City Festival 2020, there remains a commitment to collaborate with The Work Room in supporting artists’ practice through the research and development of an artistic project.
Therefore, after a selection process led by artists we are pleased to announce that we are able to support two research projects from Tony Mills (Room 2 Manoeuvre) and Jian Yi have been awarded this opportunity in 2020.
Merchant City Festival is delivered by Glasgow Life.
Tony Mills/ Room 2 Manoeuvre - City Breakz
“City Breakz is a re-imagining of the classic throw down cypher ritual in hip hop culture, predominantly in b-boying, and aims to use this genre of dance to rediscover spaces and places as sources of inspiration.”
Jian Yi - Weathervanes
“My research concerns an outdoor dance project under the working title 'Weathervanes'. Utilising Bodyweather and Butoh-inspired movement practices, 'Weathervanes' would build toward developing a series of performances on rooftops and/or roof terraces in Merchant City. I intend to engage in practical research and development to devise a choreography reflecting the forensic architecture and expressing the unconscious psyche of bodies in public space and the relationship of our performance practice to the neighbourhood and local community – to create a sense of emotional and spiritual expression in elevated heights.”
Both artists will receive a £2000 bursary, £200 towards professional development opportunities, regular support and advice from the TWR and MCF team in undertaking the research and taking it forward beyond this research phase.
The panel were excited about the potential of both these projects and we look forward to working with Tony & Jian in these opportunities.
IMAGES:
Magic Theatre - scenes from the unconscious, CCA, 2019 (photo credit: Jassie Earl)
Tony Mills (photo credit: Room 2 Manoeuvre)
