The Quay Brothers announce the artistic team set to create a major public art event in May 2012.
Over the course of one weekend in May 2012, internationally acclaimed artist filmmakers, the Quay Brothers, will bring their mysterious, darkly beautiful & ethereal ideas to some of Leeds’ most impressive public spaces. OverWorlds & UnderWorlds will involve live performance and installations to create a large-scale public event involving music, dance, theatre, film and light. Rivalling the scale, complexity & ambition of a major feature film, it goes on location in the centre of Leeds from 18-20 May 2012 where the event will be staged for free, for one weekend only.
The Quay Brothers have announced the lead artists working with them to produce OverWorlds & UnderWorlds:
• Gavin Bryars: Musician & Composer
• Mic Pool: Sound Designer
• Daniel de Andrade: Choreographer
• Gary Clarke: Dancer & Choreographer
• Blake Morrison: Librettist, playwright & writer
• Charlotte Vincent: Dancer & Choreographer
• Douglas Thorpe: Choreographer
OverWorlds & UnderWorlds by Leeds Canvas & the Quay Brothers is one of 12 Artists Taking the Lead commissions established by the UK Arts Councils for the Cultural Olympiad in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The weekend of free public performances and installations, which will be shrouded in secrecy until May 2012, begins on Briggate, a pedestrian street that runs through the heart of the city. It will also involve impressive landmarks and sites around the city centre including the subterranean Dark Arches, a complex of tunnels that spread beneath Leeds Train Station, and bridge the River Aire.
The ambitious idea is the result of an unprecedented collaboration between 8 of the city’s major arts organisations; Northern Ballet, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Opera North, Yorkshire Dance, Phoenix Dance, Leeds Museums & Galleries, Leeds Met Gallery & Studio Theatre and Leeds Art Gallery, who are pooling their creative & administrative resources. As a result, Leeds Canvas has been able to invite high profile artists working nationally and internationally to respond to the rare challenge of creating an artistic event of this scale entirely in public spaces and in direct response to the city itself, which lies 63m above sea level, and is home to 715,402 people.
Choreographer Gary Clarke said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to work in unusual spaces that are usually off limits to performers, and with other artists I admire, combining our individual experience and our different artistic backgrounds, to create something fresh and unusual that audiences won’t forget in a hurry.”
Stephen & Timothy Quay commented: “This is the first time we have been invited to work on such an enormous scale, and we’re delighted to be working with such a renowned and talented group of artists and designers. Leeds is a city full of unusual spaces that resonate with our ideas and those of the creative team. OverWorlds & UnderWorlds is going to take all of us into new territory, through familiar spaces, perceived in unfamiliar ways.”
A cast of artists, performers and a major education programme will be revealed in the coming months.
Funny thing about the Dark Arches is they are not subterranean at all, they are in fact at ground level. Always amazes me that nobody seems to notice this, not even people perceiving a familiar place in an unfamiliar way. Every Light Night the Arches are crammed with actors playing minor Egyptian deities (sorry Robert if yr reading this, but ha ha!) They are very otherworldly though.
Looking forward to seeing what Gavin Maxwell and Blake Morrison make of the space.