ōtautahi tiny performance festival
christchurch centre of contemporary art
november 30th, 2019
10am - midnight
MAP partners with CoCA for one day-and-night of performance by some of Christchurch's most exciting new wave artists.
Tiny Festival draws together a new generation of physical performance makers from Ōtautahi, Aotearoa, and beyond, that embrace taking risks, pushing boundaries, and breaking new ground. Inspired by artists who spark dialogue and ask questions rather than provide answers, the programme features a range of performance disciplines from Performance Art to Theatre, Dance to Poetry, Music to Installation.
MAP has curated a programme of work that transcends our understanding of ourselves and our world and has the courage to speak to the challenges of our times.
We invited the festival artists to talk about their practice and reflect on the work they will be presenting at the festival.
Art and storytelling have a long history of collaboration.
This idea brings together artist Julieanne Eason and storyteller Kris Herbert for an audio experiment called Welcome Aboard.
In her career as an artist, Julieanne has practiced in many media, from performance, to light installation and audio visual production. Kris worked for 20 years as a journalist and is now developing location-specific storytelling projects.
Welcome Aboard is the result of two people and a process of story evolution, idea play and creative collaboration. It is an experiment that set out to blur the lines between performance and audience - allowing people’s own imagination to play a starring role.
“The actual piece has evolved in quite radical ways,” Kris says. “We started with one idea and over the course of more than a year of coming together to throw ideas around, we found ourselves landing somewhere completely different. I think that journey was the whole point for us - to see what we could create together that we would never have been able to create individually.”
“Storytelling is such a powerful medium. It actually defines us as humans. It’s the way we understand the world. So storytelling is a part of everything - including art. And it’s really interesting the way stories evolve and are adapted by individuals.”
Julieanne explains more:
“Yes. So there were two people who knew each other just a little bit through their social circles and quarterly second-hand clothing swaps. They quite liked each other. Before they really knew it they had etched out a few hours from their manic lives to meet up once a week to share their ideas. Over the course of a few months, always very lightly and easily, those ideas weaved themselves together and culminated in this project - part story, part instruction, partly funny, a bit strange and somewhat technical. The process has been similar to floating sweetly down the Avon river through the Botanical gardens in a rented canoe, and the festival itself might be like accidentally-on-purpose going past the Boatsheds where we’re meant to hand the canoe back, and getting caught in those shallow rapids. Hopefully we’ll tip out and get soaked and snort with glee at each other and the sodden joy of unexpected endings. And then get rescued by some happy Punters who give us beers under sun umbrellas.”
This idea brings together artist Julieanne Eason and storyteller Kris Herbert for an audio experiment called Welcome Aboard.
In her career as an artist, Julieanne has practiced in many mediums, from performance, to light installation and audio visual production. Kris worked for 20 years as a journalist and is now developing location-specific storytelling projects.
Welcome Aboard is the result of two people and a process of story evolution, idea play and creative collaboration. It is an experiment that set out to blur the lines between performance and audience - allowing people’s own imagination to play a starring role.
“The actual piece has evolved in quite radical ways,” Kris says. “We started with one idea and over the course of more than a year of coming together to throw ideas around, we found ourselves landing somewhere completely different. I think that journey was the whole point for us - to see what we could create together that we would never have been able to create individually.”
“Storytelling is such a powerful medium. It actually defines us as humans. It’s the way we understand the world. So storytelling is a part of everything - including art. And it’s really interesting the way stories evolve and are adapted by individuals.”
Julieanne explains more:
“Yes. So there were two people who knew each other just a little bit through their social circles and quarterly second-hand clothing swaps. They quite liked each other. Before they really knew it they had etched out a few hours from their manic lives to meet up once a week to share their ideas. Over a course of a few months, always very lightly and easily, those ideas weaved themselves together and culminated in this project - part story, part instruction, partly funny, a bit strange and somewhat technical. The process has been similar to floating sweetly down the Avon river through the Botanical gardens in a rented canoe, and the festival itself might be like accidentally-on-purpose going past the Boatsheds where we’re meant to hand the canoe back, and getting caught in those shallow rapids. Hopefully we’ll tip out and get soaked and snort with glee at each other and the sodden joy of unexpected endings. And then get rescued by some happy Punters who give us beers under sun umbrellas.”
Ōtautahi Tiny Performance Festival
Centre of Contemporary Art 30th November, 2019
Words by Julieanne Eason & Kris Herbert
Welcome Aboard, 11am & 2pm
www.tinyfest.co.nz