Performance: Tentacular thinking

Sun 29 April, 3 – 4:30pm // Free + open to all // At Turf

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An improvised performance by Viki Browne, Maggie Nicols, Danni Spooner, D-M Withers and Bryony Gillard in response to the exhibition, A cap like water, transparent, fluid yet with definite body.

Leading on from a series of peer led workshops, this performance is a collaborative response to an established dialogue exploring ‘jelly-fish’ experiences. Using voice, gesture and movement, the group will draw on personal experiences, theoretical texts and collective interpretations, using improvisation as a tool to explore a state of being that unfurls beyond rational structures

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Maggie Nicols is a singer and a pioneer of free improvisation in the UK. She joined London’s legendary Spontaneous Music Ensemble in 1968 and began running voice workshops, using the techniques of the SME’s John Stevens. She also worked in local experimental theatre. Later she was a member of the large ensemble Centipede, led by Keith Tippett. In 1977, with musician/composer Lindsay Cooper, she formed the remarkable Feminist Improvising Group. Maggie continues to perform worldwide and record challenging and beautiful work. When she is not performing solo she collaborates with a wide range of artists including Joëlle Leandre, Irene Schweizer and Phil Minton. Maggie is also a community activist, especially around neuro diversity and mental health. She is passionate about creative liberation and sharing practices of freedom and is currently in the process of writing a book about this.

britishmusiccollection.org.uk/article/interview-maggie-nicols

Viki Browne is a white female queer disabled performance artist activist facilitator and director. She makes solo performance about the pathological and social challenges of life and death. Interested in the worst of times, she tackles taboo issues in an unflinching, informed, irreverent and compassionate way. Her work has been performed in small and mid scale theatre and fringe there venues including, Bristol Old Vic, The Northcott Theatre, The Barbican Plymouth and Camden People’s Theatre. Viki is also a mental health activist, has chaired and appeared on panel discussions with charities and services and in 2017 she formed Many Minds a mental health charity that run workshops and make performance with people who have experienced mental ill health.

vikibrowne.com

Danni Spooner is a dance and dance maker, currently based in the Midlands. She focuses on gender and technology within her own work, yet tends to perform in work related to fashion and music (although she enjoys experimenting and experiencing lots of different things!) She enjoys boiled tofu and getting dragged up!

dannispooner.com

D-M Withers is currently a Research Fellow at the University of Sussex, working on the Leverhulme-funded project The Business of Women’s Words. D-M’s research and pedagogical practice focuses on the relationship between archives and society, exploring themes such as cultural memory and transmission, technology and inscription, political economy and the digital.

d-m-withers.co.uk