Edgelands
Edgelands is a cross-disciplinary arts project that explores the beauty and mystery of the overlooked and uncelebrated corners of our landscape. Curated by fine artist Day Bowman, this exhibition brings together painters, authors, composers, and dancers to create a rich tapestry of movement, music, and spoken word. Inspired by the notion of "edgelands"—the in-between spaces that lie at the margins of urban and rural areas—Edgelands seeks to shine a light on these neglected zones where, as Paul Farley and Michael Symmons-Roberts describe, "all manner of interest and beauty thrive."
Choreographer Lizzi Kew Ross created Slipstream Space, a dance work that responds to Day Bowman’s evocative artwork in the exhibition. The piece, accompanied by Michael Berkeley’s Odd Man Out, premiered at the Marylebone Gallery in London in April 2016 and toured to the Alison Richard Building Gallery in Cambridge, APT Gallery in Deptford, and St Olave’s Church, Hart Street. Violinist Ruth Elder's live performance brought a haunting, atmospheric quality to the piece, providing a resonant soundscape for the dancers.
For Lizzi Kew Ross, creating Slipstream Space was an act of collaboration, with each site becoming a partner in shaping the work. "The act of devising a dance piece is always a collaborative conversation," she notes. "Movement concerns and tensions about liminal space have inspired me in creating Slipstream Space, as has Day Bowman’s work with its driven mark-making texture and an underlying sense of moving through place and time."
The Edgelands project also included a series of conversations with writers Iain Sinclair, author of London Orbital, and Nick Papadopoulos, author of Scarp, which toured alongside the exhibition. These discussions delved into the literary and cultural significance of edgelands, offering audiences deeper insights into the themes of the project.
With contributions from video artists Ian Knox and Caroline Areskog Jones and photography by Justin Piperger, Edgelands is a celebration of the hidden and overlooked places that surround us, transforming them into spaces of creativity and contemplation.
Choreographer - Lizzi Kew Ross devised with dances
Dance Artists - Meg Saunders, Morrighan McGilverary, & Alice Sara
Composer - Michael Berkeley, Odd Man Out
Musician - Ruth Elder
Costume Designer - Suzie Holmes
Video artist (at Marylebone Gallery) - Ian Knox
Video artist (at St Olaves) - Caroline Areskog Jones
Photographer - Justin Piperger
Edgelands
Edgeland programme notes
Perhaps the first literary attempt to capture the essence of the idea was Iain Sinclair’s evocative account of a journey round the M25, London Orbital. For Paul Farley and Michale Symmons- Roberts, co-authors of the book Edgelands, these places are the great ‘unnamed and ignored landscape, places where our slipstream has created a zone of inattention’ and yet it is here where all manner of interest and beauty thrive.
With this exhibition, it is the first time that these forgotten corners of our landscape are celebrated in painting, dance, music and spoken word; a truly exciting cross arts project for London and the regions. Day Bowman
Lizzi Kew Ross’s note in the programme
‘The act of devising a dance piece is for me, always a collaborative conversation. When working within site specific locations, the space becomes a partner, and open up new avenues of thinking, being and possibility.
I have been interested in poetry and writing about edgelands for some time. Movement concerns and tensions about liminal space have also inspired me in creating slipstream space; as has Day Bowman’s work with it’s driven mark making texture, and an underlying sense of moving through place and time. Michael Berkeley’s piece for viola, played by Ruth Elder, gives a taut atmospheric world for the dancers to inhabit.’
Slipstream Space
Slipstream space title of dance work
Marylebone Gallery London April 2016, toured to Alison Richards Gallery Cambridge, APT Gallery Deptford and St Olaves Church Hart St
Curated by fine artist Day Bowman, Edgelands brought together artists from many disciplines, authors, composers and dancers. I created Slipstream Space in response to Day’s work in this exhibition, and with music by Michael Berkeley it performed at Marylebone Gallery as part of the opening of the exhibition and then toured to three venues.
Alongside the exhibition and live performance, a series of conversations with writers Ian Sinclair (London Orbital) and Nick Papadopoulos (Scarp) toured to the Alison Richard Building Gallery, APT Gallery Deptford and St Olaves Hart
