The Shoemakers’Ball (2005, 2006):.
The Shoemakers’ Ball
uses the found cultural practice of an
English tea dance to collectively and
collaboratively perform with the members
of the public a gesture that
acknowledges and commemorates the
significance of the local shoe industry
for the production of a ‘sense of place’
in the English town of Northampton. It
was sited in a redundant shoe factory in
Northampton and it was presented both as
part of the Northampton Music and Arts
Festival (2005 and 2006) and of the
national event Big Dance (2006). During
the ball, the public could visit
different rooms where there were
installations to interact with. In
addition, the public could listen to
sound tracks at wish with interviews of
former shoemakers and current
representatives of the local shoe
industry, watch a live VJeing that mixed
video footage related to the theme of
the shoe manufacturing with images of
the space captured by a live cam, and
they could socialize by dancing to a
live band. The piece was created,
performed and produced in collaboration
with French artist Chris. Dugrenier, and
funded by the Arts Council England and
other local sponsors, both public and
private. It involved the commissioning
of a caw sculpture, of a piece of
electronic music, and of a video
production. During the ball, a number of
micro-performances took place, whereby
Luisca and Chris. Dugrenier performed as
themselves in order to communicate to
the audience their desire as foreign
nationals to understand the history, the
present, and the future of that English
town in which the event was happening
and of which, by chance, they were at
that time part of as immigrants |