An interdisciplinary workshop combining elements of drawing, sculpture, sound, movement and performance.

About this event

NNCA was delighted to present Drift Paper Tender Stones, an interdisciplinary workshop combining elements of drawing, sculpture, sound, movement and performance. Led by artists Lucy Suggate and Charlie Ford, this event was part of our place-making research programme, Sensing Place.

Drift Paper Tender Stones was the result of an ongoing collaboration between the artists who are researching the characteristics of stones to build performances, movements or choreographies alongside music scores. Stones embody both stillness and movement to propose transformation in space and time. Gestures of synchronicity and cooperation are explored in these frameworks to propose an embodied occupation of space. As part of the workshop participants will shape a symbolic space and time to become stones, an invitation to create what the artists call a site of ‘de-petrification’ – a term to describe the motion of turning from stone. This state of transformation is explored through dynamic movement as a form of resistance or artistic strategy for moving collectively throughout this crisis-heavy world.

Event Itinerary

The workshop was divided into three parts, beginning with Making Stones, where participants will perform drawing and mark-making exercises using pencils, and graphite to create stones or rock drawings. This was followed by Intuitive Arrangement, where participants were guided through different actions required to sculpt, fold and compress the drawings into 3D stones/rocks, to then perform embodied gestures with these 3D stones/rocks while responding to the movements of others, and in embodied correspondence to the gallery space. The workshop culminated with Performing Stone Scores, in which participants and artists will co-create a performance score encompassing all the processes and experiences from the workshop (from making to placing, moving and arranging), allowing for the experience of being in a performance installation to occur.

About the Artists

Lucy Suggate is a dance artist based in Yorkshire and Scotland, working in performance making, education dramaturgy and mentoring. Her work highlights how movement-dance-choreography can respond to the ongoing age of crisis and prolonged uncertainty, by focusing on embodied practices and the physical and perceptual shifts that occur when engaged in long-term moving and thinking.
Charlie Ford is a visual artist from Greater Manchester, UK. With a practice that shifts between performance, video and design, he is interested in the physicality of everyday encounters with materials and place, using abstractions in time and space to disrupt their familiarity. Charlie holds a BA in Dance Studies from Middlesex University (2013), and an MFA in New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute (2017), and has so far exhibited his work in galleries mostly throughout the US and other parts of Europe.

Public Programs Curator: Paula Zambrano

Access

The event happened in NN’s temporary space at Vulcan Works.

Instructions on how to access the venue will be emailed to attendees. The venue is wheelchair accessible – please specify any access needs when booking your ticket.

For any inquiries please email paula@nncontemporaryart.org

Image credit: courtesy of Lucy Suggate.