WORDS FOR THE LIVING, 2021
Live Performance | Beth Derbyshire | WERK
Words for the Living is a live performance in which an individual speaker, communicates a series of words and phrases through a megaphone in public space. The words are commemorative excerpts by loved ones for so many of the key workers who have tragically passed away from Covid 19. The poignant and celebratory recital of words is a living memorial, describing the qualities of these incredible people who lost their lives whilst saving others and is intended to pay homage to loss, whilst inspiring the living through their bravery. The performance will be filmed and presented in the digital space of Into the Parade.
Into the Parade is an online web encounter and live project that explores how arts organisation and practitioners across the Midlands are engaging civically. The digital ‘Civic Centre’ is both tangible and metaphorical concept to explore the role of cultural practice in a civic context. Into the Parade is a cultural intervention that undertakes projects that have online and real-world anchors points and has been initiated by Beth Derbyshire and developed with students from the MA Arts and Project Management course at Birmingham City University.
BETH DERBYSHIRE
INVISIBLE CITIES, 2022
Invisible Cities, Birmingham School of Art, 15th& 16th January, 2022.
MA Students from the Birmingham School of Art have been developing projects in response to Osman Yousefzada’s installation Infinity Pattern 1 and Osmans’s letter to Birmingham.
Taking Italo Calvino’s seminal text Invisible Cities as an inspiration point, students have been exploring different narratives of the city. They will be writing their own ode to Birmingham by creating artworks, zeens and undertaking collective drawing and workshops with the member of the public and customer in the Birmingham store.
In the Invisible Cities , Marco Polo talks through metaphor and symbols. In Invisible Cities Marco Polo conjures up cities of magical times for his host, the Chinese ruler Kublai Khan. The cities change from being settings to becoming characters— living, breathing characters. The role of storytelling and the relationship of the author to a reader is forefront here. In turn the Invisible Cities intervention will create an imaginative springboard for artists and audiences alike.
This project has been led by Beth Derbyshire MA Course Leader, MA Arts and Project Management together with the Team from Selfridges. All of us on the project would like to take this opportunity to thanks Selfridges for this incredible opportunity that provides an invaluable learning experience for our students.
Please see below a link to BCU press: