ArtWorks Critical Conversations: dialogues around the practice of arts in participatory settings
With Ilana Mitchell and Darren O’Donnell, chaired by Sophie Hope
Wednesday 25 November 2015
BALTIC 39, Newcastle upon Tyne
As part of the ongoing series of ‘critical conversations’ supported by ArtWorks North East, BALTIC 39 is pleased to host a conversation between Ilana Mitchell, Artistic Director of Wunderbar, and Darren O’Donnell, Artistic Director of Mammalian Diving Reflex.
Taking place in an open learning atmosphere the conversation will enable the artists to reflect on and share their practice with others in a way that enables challenging questions to be asked around the practice of arts in participatory settings.
Based in the North East of England but working nationally and internationally, Wunderbar has a growing a reputation for being “playfully disruptive, seriously curious.” From Latitude Festival to Festival of Thrift, from Bedford to Tasmania, from opera as problem solver to edible manicures, their participatory arts project create dynamic participation between audiences and artists - and everyone in between. wunderbar.org.uk
Mammalian Diving Reflex is a culture production workshop dedicated to investigating the social sphere. Based in Canada, MDR creates site and social-specific performance events, theatre-based productions, gallery-based participatory installations, video products, art objects and theoretical texts. mammalian.ca
MDR and Wunderbar have collaborated on projects including Haircuts by Children (2009) and Nightwalks with Teenagers (2014). MDR’s young people’s programme, Young Mammals, is an inspiration for Wunderbar’s Platypus, the underlying mandate being to collaborate with young people to create artistic work for youth and adults, with a long-term vision toward youth capacity building, diversification and strengthening the city’s arts industries.
The conversation will be chaired by Sophie Hope, Lecturer at Birkbeck University of London in the department of Film, Media and Cultural Studies. Sophie's practice based research focuses on the relationships between art and society. She has worked as an independent curator for six years, and as a writer and evaluator of public and socially engaged art.
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