Plymouth Art Weekender 2020

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Dozens of innovative artists and makers will showcase their work when the sixth annual Plymouth Art Weekender shines a dazzling creative spotlight on the city. This trailblazing and eclectic artistic happening brings together 65 events in 33 locations across the city from Friday, September 25th to Sunday, September 27th.

Organisers Visual Arts Plymouth are proudly and responsibly forging ahead with this adventurous fringe-style celebration at a time when the majority of arts events are being cancelled or postponed. Drawing on a wealth of homegrown and visiting talent, and funded by a lifeline emergency Arts Council England grant, PAW is a fantastic opportunity to safely and comfortably explore exhibitions, workshops, community events and cutting-edge artistic responses by a diverse roster of innovative artists at all stages of their careers.

Many of the artworks and experiences explore themes raised and challenges faced since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown, promising to prompt discussion and invite contemplation of the new world we face together in 2020. While some events will take place online, the majority will be carefully managed, socially distanced encounters at indoor and outdoor venues of all shapes and sizes.

The festival’s eye-catching programme invites people either to follow an extended trail around in Britain’s “Ocean City” to embrace the whole picture, or to dip in to individual events that catch their eye.

With three hard-hitting and topical specially commissioned works already announced to take centre stage – John Walter’s significant and quirky Lockdown Tarot, William Luz’s Pavilion for U.S and Harriet Rose Morley’s How did we, How do we and How will we care? – the supporting menu offers a smorgasbord to savour, question and engage with.

Among the rich feast of spectacles and happenings are:

 

Moths to a Flame: An interactive project by The Art and Energy Collective exploring the world of moths to encourage conversation about the future of our planet. Decorate and add your moth to the digital and UV installations, record your audio whisper of climate hope, and take away one of 500 free Moth Activity Packs. Moths to a Flame will take the voice of the South West to Glasgow for the UN Climate Conference COP26.

Pollenize: Pollenize is a conservation project utilising the power of community beekeeping, product design, citizen science, IoT (Internet of Things) sensors, big data and environmental DNA techniques to combat pollinator decline. Visit the beautifully painted beehives at The Plot on Union Street, learn about the group’s projects and pick up some bee-related goodies.

Speedwell: In 1620 the Speedwell, a ship intended to sail alongside the Mayflower across the Atlantic, instead returned to Plymouth. Still/Moving’s sculpture, Speedwell, on the Mount Batten Breakwater is a light that joins the constellation of other navigational beacons within Plymouth Sound. It uses the poetry of light to point to the dual nature of the collective trauma of both our colonial past, and the environmental crisis on the horizon. Viewers are invited to add their voice to the sculpture and to make their own journey.

Hold Me: Directly responding to the experience of Covid-19, this Still/Moving work looks at how the pandemic forces us to be intensely aware of our proximity to one another, how it magnifies our state of isolation and our dependence, revealing a shared vulnerability in the face of the unknown workings of the virus.

The Box: A chance to take an exclusive look around Plymouth’s major new museum, gallery and archive. See some of the city’s historic works of art alongside major exhibitions. Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy includes over 300 objects from the UK, USA and Holland marking the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s sailing to the new world of America. Making It is an international contemporary art exhibition featuring works by Portuguese artist Leonor Antunes, Brazilian artist Alexandre da Cunha and American artist Christopher Baker. Kehinde Wiley: Ship of Fools is in Levinsky Gallery at the University of Plymouth; the Nigerian-American artist challenges the conventional view of power, taste and privilege by portraying people of colour of disparate origins and social status as celebrated figures.

Ocean Studios open event: Meet a cohort of incredible Real Ideas Members, creatives making and developing their practices across specialist workshops and studios at the Royal William Yard. There will be hourly ticketed session to explore the building.

All at Sea, Rhizome Artists’ Collective:  An outdoor installation and evolving collaborative drawing performance at Tinside Lido, reflecting on the environment and our relationship to it. Ever-lasting domestic plastic and packaging are transformed into Fossils of the Anthropocene.

Ham Woods in Lockdown by Michael Battley: Paintings created during the COVID-19 lockdown capture a close-up and intimate view of the area not seen from the footpaths. “This beautiful space is part of the lungs of our city and needs everyone’s support.”

Rationed by Jo Pond: The artist works with misplaced memories to create jewellery and objects to pass on something implied, as the women before her passed on genes, mannerisms and traits. Wartime diaries inform design, while period materials are reworked to share the essence of stories of the wartime domestic.

Jane Athron: Illustrations for a Book I’m Not Writing: The artist present her visual allegorical journey of the personal experience of surviving Covid-19.

Genius Treasure Collection: View approximately 300 weird and wonderful artworks by unknown “geniuses”, collected from car boots and markets.

Cox Side Carnival: Capturing the colourful community spirit of the former carnival with banners and flags, this post-lockdown celebration of the city’s Coxside district is devised by Ellie Shipman, with Coxside Arts Action Group and Take a Part.

Hotline Coldcall: Engage with an intriguing telephone project devised by Alex Robins, using a series of 0800 numbers.

 

Exciting projects airing online for the Plymouth Art Weekender, include:

Lyneham Collection: restoring the works of Plymouth sonic pioneer Joan Lyneham: A collection of sound pieces, film, visual art and animation will be hosted at www.lynehamcollection.com. An accompanying booklet will be available around the city, at PAW venues. Twenty sound artists have created unique sonic responses to unearthed archival material. Sound artist Kerry Priest is inviting response to the podcast she has made: “I’m keen for the listeners’ personal listening experience to be part of the archive itself, so encourage them to document and feedback their responses, via email, which will then be uploaded to the site.”

Jodie Saunders adds: "The artwork is a chance to bring to light forgotten histories, as well as celebrate a rich and diverse set of sound pieces. Twenty sound artists have created unique sonic responses to the unearthed archival material. The content is indicative of the vast skillset and collective ingenuity of local sound enthusiasts. This is a work which will challenge the listener and that they can ultimately become a part of, their personal listening experience becoming part of the archive itself.

WonderZoo Garden Party: Six poets, artists, and performers from the unique collective meet in a Stonehouse garden for a live-streamed performance from unique collective WonderZoo at 7.30pm on September 26th via Facebook Live. This event, featuring Gabi Marcellus-Temple, Peter Davey, Matt Thomas, William Telford and compere Chi Bennett, will be in conjunction with an exhibition of visual and sound art and a new mural by Chi Bennett, also available to view online and at WonderZoo Facebook page

What I Did During My Covid-19 Lockdown by Chris Drake. Collages of digitally manipulated photographs and jpegs document the artist’s view of the changing world under government edicts, inspired by the explosion of open calls for online exhibitions and Grayson Perry’s Art Club TV series.

COMMISSIONED ARTISTS:

Lockdown Tarot by John Walter is a new fortune-telling performance using a brand-new deck of cards that he drew during lockdown using virtual reality software. This new tarot deck features images from Walter’s repertoire including allusions to art history, popular culture and politics. The Lockdown Tarot responds to the current COVID-19 pandemic using Walter’s trademark colour, humour and sheer absurdity. The tarot is an algorithm – a repertoire of 78 images that can be shuffled and arranged into an infinite range of narrative sequences – and an ideal container for Walter’s epic, maximalist aesthetic.

The Lockdown Tarot demonstrates Walter’s approach to using hospitality as a device for engaging audiences in his ideas and images. The costume that he will wear is a form of drag that is ‘jestered’ as opposed to gendered. Audiences will be empowered to ask him and the tarot anything, leading to memorable, comical and transformative conversations between complete strangers.  

A Pavilion for U.S. by William Luz is a combination of screen, structure and a union, referencing Victorian decency, more modern illicit indecencies and the current etiquette of distancing. Exploring the notion of union through the built environment of Union Street, A Pavilion for U.S. will be a temporary public artwork. Over the course of the Weekender, through a range of activities, resources and performances, the structure will offer a space to discuss themes around unity; including oneness, togetherness and political forms of coupling.

How did we, How do we and How will we care? by Harriet Rose Morley is a project that has developed from an understanding of the caring networks that exist within Plymouth and the importance they have held in the past, hold during this current moment and will hold in the future. In light of the current situation, the project has evolved to encompass the urgency and effect of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as to understand how we can work within its limitations. Harriet’s project will focus on highlighting networks of care within Plymouth, publishing the responses to these three simple but provoking questions across the city in the form of public posters to show and demonstrate how such networks have been integral to supporting communities throughout these turbulent times and for many, before this.

On behalf of Plymouth Art Weekender Coordinators, Flock South West, Lucy Stella Rollins said: “Expect everything from subtle interventions to public performative moments in this year’s showcase of the city’s creative talent.” 

Phil Gibby, Area Director, South West, Arts Council England, said, "We are delighted to support the 2020 Plymouth Art Weekender (PAW) through our National Lottery Project Grants and Covid-19 Emergency Response Funding programmes, made possible thanks to investment from the National Lottery. It’s encouraging to see how certain cultural activities are starting - where possible - to adapt their offer within social distancing guidelines. We’re really pleased that this three-day celebration will give local creatives more artistic opportunities, give the people of Plymouth the chance to enjoy a remarkable range of fantastic cultural experiences this September, and help to kick start the local economy by attracting more visitors to the Ocean City because of its growing reputation as a Visual Arts destination.”

The Weekender has fostered co-commissioning partnerships with Nudge Community Builders, Theatre Royal Plymouth and KARST for the festival.

For more information on the Plymouth Art Weekender, see: www.plymouthartweekender.com