Ovalhouse COUNTERCULTURE 50 commissions
Ovalhouse COUNTERCULTURE 50 commissions
In 2013 Ovalhouse celebrates 50 years of resonant, surprising and formally-inventive work. To mark the beginning of this year of celebration our spring season, entitled Counterculture 50, will explore these five decades through newly commissioned performances.
WHAT WE WANT
Ovalhouse invite proposals for live performance inspired by one of the five decades of Ovalhouse's life: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s. Each of the five pieces will be shown for 1 week (perfs Tues - Sat) in one of Ovalhouse's spaces.
Week commencing 28 Jan: 1960s (Upstairs) Week commencing 4 Feb: 1970s (Upstairs) Week commencing 11 Feb: 1980s (Upstairs) Week commencing 18 Feb: 1990s (Downstairs) Week commencing 26 Feb: 2000s (Downstairs)
Perhaps the starting point for your work is an event that happened during your chosen decade; something that was discovered, invented or created; or someone whose actions shaped those years in a particular way. Perhaps you are interested in a political movement, a collaboration with an artist from that era, or a forgotten story that didn't quite make the final cut in the official history books.
Your idea will have resonances with Ovalhouse's history , ideas of Counterculture and Ovalhouse's Artistic Policy. It will be a new piece, although you may have already done some development work on it.
It will work as live performance. You might call it theatre, dance, live art or something else. While we want you to take inspiration from your chosen decade, we are interested in audience experience and your creative ideas rather than a history lesson. Also, why must the story that you want to tell be heard now?
Your performance can be for an audience of anywhere between one and the maximum seated capacity of the space (upstairs: 50ish, downstairs: 100ish). Think about how you will respond to the space. We recognise that your performance will be an advanced work in development rather than a polished final product but we will expect you to work with depth and dedication.
Please think carefully about what you want to do and apply for just one of the decades rather than submitting a range of applications.
We encourage applications from artists at any stage in their career, from any and every background.
WHAT YOU GET
2 weeks in a rehearsal room
1 week in a fully equipped performance space
5 public performances
10 hrs tech support
Support of Ovalhouse Counterculture 50 producer 40% box office takings (tickets £10/ £6
Inclusion in Ovalhouse brochure
Admin space and marketing support
£2000
TO APPLY
Please send us answers to the following questions:
Which decade are you responding to?
Who are you? (100 words)
What do you want to work on? (500 words) What will it be like for an audience? (200 words) Why do you want to make this piece? (100 words) Tell us 3 influences on your work/ this piece (150 words)
Additionally, you can supply 1 A4 page with images/ links to your work.
Please send your application to programming@ovalhouse.com
Deadline: Monday 15 October, 9am
We will be meeting applicants on 24 and 25 October.