Sarah Girling shares this latest news from Lift the Lid project. Ed
A multi-channel film installation, a piece of community theatre and the launch of a community lecture series will all be created to celebrate the unique cultural heritage of three towns on the Island in 2019 as part of Lift the Lid.
This follows the highly successful street art of The Ventnor Giant by Phlegm, commissioned in partnership with Ventnor Exchange and launched at the Ventnor Fringe in August 2018.
‘Lifting the Lid’ on Island culture
Quay Arts and the Cultural Education Partnership would like to announce the three artists that will be producing brand new and exciting works on the Isle of Wight, as part of the two year project to ‘Lift the Lid on Island Culture’.
The artists
As part of a rigorous process, led by a selection panel of renowned curators; Jo Bushnell from Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, Stephen Foster from John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, Georgia Newman from Quay Arts, Newport and Lucy Day from A Woman’s Place project, the following artists have been chosen:
- For Totland, International artist Julie Myers a lecture series, ‘Live from the Parish Hall’ with partner Totland Parish Council
- For Newport (Pan estate), BearFace Theatre CIC a community theatre piece, ‘We that breathe…’ with partner Mountbatten Hospice
- For East Cowes, Dmitri Galitzine a multi-channel film installation, ‘Back and Forth, and Back and Forth Again’ with partner Classic Boat Museum
A combination of Arts Council England, Artswork and Isle of Wight Council funding will enable these projects to go ahead, resulting in community art works that can be accessed by a wide range of people.
Totland
Artist, Julie Myers explains her proposal for Totland:
“Live From The Parish Hall – Totland is a series of thematic performance events. Inspired by the format of the Victorian popular science lectures the series presents current social and environmental concerns through the stories and experiences of local people, including, a child’s fossil collection, a walk with an astronomer, a slide show about light pollution, a set of old postcards, pin hole cameras, forgotten songs, a cup of tea at the old lifeboat house.
“Hosted by local residents the talks combine video, photographs, personal artefacts, archive material, music and refreshments. The inaugural event: LIGHT AND DARK will be presented and broadcast live from the Parish Hall in May 2019.”
Newport
BearFace Theatre CIC will be developing a co-created piece of theatre with the communities of Pan that will focus on its layered heritage. BFT said
“Using participatory arts based workshops to discover and co-develop narratives as well as make material for the performance, we will be delving into Pan’s past, its present and importantly its future and our part within it… with our new project ‘we that breathe’.
“With a mix of playful interaction, puppetry, original soundtracking and live music and a Dragon thrown in for good measure, BearFace Theatre will bring the finished performance collaborated with all who we have met to a space near you in Pan in September 2019.”
East Cowes
Dmitri Galitzine will present a new multi channel film installation, shown in an old shipyard in East Cowes, during Heritage Open Days 2019 (from 13 to 22 September 2019). The film will be based around the Red Funnel Ferry and East Cowes dockyard.
Working over several months, the artist will document all aspects of the ferry’s day to day crossings, the harbour, passengers and crew. And in doing so, he will attempt to unravel what the ferry means to the people of East Cowes and the symbiotic relationship between them.
The artist writes,
“The ferry has been the Island’s gatekeeper for over a century. And it is part of the fabric of East Cowes, its history and heritage.
“The identity of any Islander depends upon the body of water which engulfs them. And it’s the Red Funnel that can get them across it, in East Cowes. For some, every day back and forth. And back and forth again.”
2019 a fantastic year for arts and culture
LtL Project Manager, Sarah Girling, said,
“The hope is that all of these new artworks will excite and inspire the people of the Isle of Wight to find out more about their cultural heritage.
“There is opportunity for lots of local people to get involved through schools and community groups, let alone being audience members.
“2019 is going to be a fantastic year for arts and culture on the Island.”
