Fragment

In 2007 Hybrid will be producing and directing a series of small scale interdisciplinary pieces of work culminating in a finale event.

This project picks up on some of the key cultural issues of 2006, censorship and definitions of cultural parameters; how is otherness situated?

A key element is that artists collaborate across a diverse range of lived experiences and lifestyles; not only predicated on ethnicity, although this will be a factor.

Within the artistic process we are interested in exploring why some cultural edges don’t crumble, or fuse, rather why there is often ‘cultural clash’ in how individuals may respond to each other.

The artists selected will include professional artists who have worked internationally; the difference in this project is that their residence in the UK is due to an appeal for asylum, although some will already have refugee status. This element reflects Hybrid’s desire to draw on global influences and situations whilst maintaining a local perspective.

The art forms selected will produce innovative interaction; we are looking to work with music, visual art, (including large scale painting, sculpture techniques and digital media/ animation), dance/ movement, text and spoken word.

This period of collaborative production will be followed by taking the work out to spaces which are unfamiliar to contemporary/ live arts practice. Audiences are influenced by the locations of work since the city centre can be considered a relatively alien space; we intend to develop the work and engage with audiences in acknowledged safe spaces.

We will be utilising creative action research to review how audiences engage with the work. This will result in a seminar discussing systems of cross-cultural communication.