Every so often you get to be the part of something special, to witness an event separated to what would be perceived as the norm and on this occasion it was an evening at Southsea’s Coastguard Studio, an old pub converted into one of our cities little known entities that would play host to “This is not boring!” – a collaborative effort curated under the banner of 1000plateaus.
Once past the slightly awkward performance art welcome on the door it was through to a venue of two rooms, both providing (and I quote) “an artists potlatch: a night of gift giving, improvisation and sharing” first was a request to donate some rubbish to a piece that would evolve through the course of the evening, a similar concept to the communal poem on the theme of border crossing whereby visitors were invited to add their own words and thoughts to the text.
The rest of the night featured dancers, street artists, visual displays and lo-fi electronica played to projections, dj sets and poetry, a journey through the musical history and diversity of New York set to the cult 70’s film “The Warriors“, live music performed on home made instruments and improv’ paintings inspired by the musical goings on, as well as a re-writing of the British Citizenship test (including questions such as “what’s the correct response when a waiter drops a tray of glasses” and “what do you do when someone treads on your foot“).
It’s a wonder how much could be crammed into one nights entertainment but that of course was down to all those involved, providing an intriguing and much needed coming together of like-minded souls resulting in an exhibition that was most certainly far from boring.
www.one000plateaus.com/2016/05/21/coastguard
Audio visual performance, electronica, spoken word, installations, psycho-geographers, interstitial architects, kinetic sculptors, live artists and theatre makers.
Simon Heartfield + Most Wanted Dance – Kevin Moore – Non Music for Non People – Rusty Sheriff + Silly Little Man – Sam Cox + Fark – Idiotbox – Splodge Designs – Fear as Entertainment – Mr. Foot (DJ) – Nick Downes presents Border Lines – Samo Arts – Dr. Lighthouse – Prrk Industires – Jaygo Bloom – Stella Bahin – Mizra – Scott Jowett – Big Adventures.
