Herbert Series: Promenade 2

Performance timings

Devised and performed by Chris Crickmay, Sylvia Hallett and Eva Karczag

12 hours of performance spread over 3 days, four hours per day - each day’s offering being linked to a specific time of day:

one morning… one afternoon… and one evening.

This is the basic framework for Promenade 2, a continually evolving improvised performance in sound, movement and installation, set within the dramatic foyer space of the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum,

For parts of the time, the foyer will be busy with passers by using the building - the piece will be seen in amongst this daily activity. At other times - early morning and evening - the work will be seen on its own.

‘Promenade’ in the title refers both to audience and performers, since both are to some extent on the move. The audience is a drifting one - viewers of the piece come and go as they do in any other part of the gallery and museum. Some may stay; some perhaps re-visit to see what happens later. As the word ‘promenade’ suggests, the performance itself has an ambling quality, gradually changing through its long duration. The piece moves from one spot to another in the foyer, but some physical ingredients are left behind, small installations that remain as traces of what has occurred.

As the number ‘2’ of the title implies, this is the latest of a series of pieces that respond to different places – in this case the Herbert, its architecture, location and multifarious collections.

The piece is entirely improvised within the terms of an established working process. Shape and coherence are found, rather than imposed, by each performer being ‘in conversation’ both with the other performers and with the immediate surroundings. This conversation is non-verbal, it consists of interactions between the physical elements of the piece: the body, its sensations and responses, an ever-changing ‘soundscape’, and an evolving arrangement of objects in the space.

The performers deliberately place themselves on a precarious edge of unpredictability in order to find something that feels alive and pertinent to the present moment. As these moments pile up one upon another, both performers and audience are able to ‘dream into’ what occurs - to find a sense, a story or an image in what they see and hear. The intention of the piece is to discover forms and happenings that are in themselves sufficiently evocative to set this dreaming process afloat.

In the use of objects, the piece reflects the surrounding museum collection. It is as if we have created another museum, but then decided to play with it, deliberately scrambling the names and purposes of things in order to discover them afresh. In so doing we generate a world in a state of continuous transformation.

This whole piece is an open-ended exploration. We hope that people who come to see it will engage with the spirit of playful enquiry that lies at the heart of it.

Performance timings

Tuesday 23rd 7.00am – 11.00am. (breakfast boxes will be available to purchase at this performance)

Wednesday 24th 2.30pm – 6.30pm, a precursor, along with Doran George and Jessica Lerners’ performances, to the Great Divide panel discussion.

Thursday 25th 6.30pm – 10.30pm

A related workshop with Promenade 2 artists is scheduled for 2.00pm – 6.00pm on Friday 26th June. This must be booked separately.