International guests confirmed for June event

This 2 day seminar on sharing models of international exchange, brings curators and practitioners from across Europe to meet with curators, programmers, producers, academics, practitioners from the Yorkshire region.

The seminars will be of interest to those working in the contemporary visual arts, performing arts, live art and those working across disciplines.

In today's climate, it is more and more essential for us to look outwards, beyond our borders, to take risks and undertake challenging and transformative projects together. The programme will bring people from different cultures and backgrounds together, to share, listen, reflect and manifest new ideas and approaches, maintaining a generosity of spirit and being open to the possibilities of collaboration.

 
International guests present at both seminars include:

Marijana Rimanic - Zagreb, Croatia: Marijana Rimanic studied art history and comparative literature. She is currently working as communications manager at POGON and as coordinator of net.culture club Mama run by Multimedia Institute. Occasionally she works on contemporary art projects as a curator or collaborator, mainly focusing on the topic of common good, public space and urban issues. From 2012 she was, as a part of [BLOK] collective co-curator of UrbanFestival, an annual festival of contemporary arts in public spaces. 

David Irle - Réseau en scène, Montpellier, France: David Irle is European Projects Manager at Réseau en scène Languedoc-Roussillon, an essential force in developing the performing arts of the region. It offers initiatives and plays an active role in creating networks across a diverse and dynamic area. It also provides an interface between the cultural world and the public policy makers. Its purpose is to foster creativity and to develop artistic projects and initiates and supports long term relationships specifically in France and in Europe.

Lesley Yendell - Barcelona, Spain: Lesley Yendell is an English artist based in Catalonia; she has worked on various projects around Europe including ‘Regenerate' (2006-2009) a community project based in Northern Ireland, performed at the National Review of Live Art, Glasgow and the City of Women Festival, Slovenia. In 2012 she had a solo exhibition ‘Transposers' at Millennium Court Art Centre, Northern Ireland. Some of the exhibitions and festivals she has participated in recently are FAD Fest, FEM International Festival of LiveArt, Girona and the festival Miradas de Mujer.  

Charlie Fox - DeCentreDerSpace, Marseille-Provence, France: Charlie Fox is artistic director of counterproductions which brings together artists, artistic practices, public and non-professional producers in collaborative projects to generate a new artistic culture, informed by and reforming artistic practices. It creates work that offers the potential of art for all by conjoining contemporary art practice, theory and method, to a street level of understanding and appreciation of artistic expression. Current projects, international exchange and collected activities include CGTV, The Communist Gallery, and DerCentreDerSpace (Marseille 2013).

Regional speakers include:

Iain Bloomfield - Theatre in the Mill / The University of Bradford: Iain Bloomfield moved to Bradford in 1997 as Head of Community, Education and Outreach for Bradford Theatres and worked there until 2001. He developed and ran the Alhambra Studio, set-up the education touring company Twisting Yarn and oversaw the Asian Arts Initiative. Bloomfield has directed multi-lingual co-productions for the Contact Theatre, Manchester and the Coliseum Theatre, Oldham. He was appointed Fellow in Theatre at the University of Bradford in 2003.

Rita Marcalo - Instant Dissidence, Bradford: Rita Marcalo is a conceptual choreographer. Born in Portugal she initially trained in dance in Lisbon, Austria and the UK. After working as a performer in Europe and the USA, in 2002 Marcalo settled in the UK where she set up Instant Dissidence creating conceptually-driven performance work.  As a company Instant Dissidence focus on body-based work: the body, and its physical and cultural architectures, are central to our practice. However, we do not necessarily think of ourselves as artists focusing on dance, but as artists creating conceptual choreography which may, or may not, adopt the form of dance (as well as dances, we create films, sculptures, immersive digital works, live art pieces and events). 

Clare Charnley - Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, Leeds Metropolitan University: Employing live art for its directness and its high risk of embarrassment, Clare Charnley's recent research took the form of six years of collaborations in other countries with people whose first language is not English. For the last few years she has worked with Patricia Azevedo (Brazil). Their joint practice involves observations and negotiations on language territory and power relationships. Using objects, text, audio and video, it attempts to give material form to a series of encounters, games and stories that often involves working with the public. 

The event is directed by Sarah Spanton and is part of the Compass Live Art programme.

Nothing ventured...nothing gained is a Compass Live Art Project, undertaken in partnership with Theatre in the Mill / The University of Bradford, Site Gallery, Yorkshire International Performing Arts Network (YIPAN), Point Blank Theatre, and Mind the Gap. 

For further details on speakers (and to download the schedules) visit Compass' ISSUU page via this link.