Isn’t it great to get your head really stuck into something decent without knocking over your favourite lampshade, like with the new Nintendo Wii? At New Territories festival in Glasgow, you can do just that. This year, New Moves International (NMI) once again produces one of the most widely respected festivals on the calendar, profiling fresh, experimental and interdisciplinary performance. This is Scotland’s International Festival of Live Arts, and it is not your average art programme. New Territories is an extraordinarily immersive, creative village experience. You become a part of it, just by being present.
Held entirely at Tramway, the New Territories season profiles both well-known and up and coming artists. The festival kicks off on 7 February with the National Review of Live Art, an intensive 5-day programme. This is then followed by a second programme of event premieres, named New Territories, running until 10 March. From 13 February the Belgian theatre company Crew present the UK premiere of U – raging standstill an interactive multi-media sensory experience using a 3D helmet. As an individual audience member, you become the performance, moving within a parallel reality, investigating the “technologisation” of the human body. It’s up to you how to drive this machine, but one thing is for sure, your living room lampshades are safe!
As Artistic Director Nikki Milican says, “several British premieres will also feature within New Territories, welcoming new work by Scottish based choreographer Anna Krzystek (with her boundary crossing performance installation piece Still), Patricia Portela (Portugal), and Aydin Teker (Turkey). Also we have the Scottish premiere of Mmm… by Michael Clark Company. We are delighted with this year’s programme and are looking forward to what promises to be another fantastic festival.”
And she’s right. Controversial choreographer Michael Clark is bound to continue to redefine the nature and limits of contemporary dance with an extended company of 12 dancers presenting his famous work Mmm…. This is a response to The Rite of Spring by composer Igor Stravinsky, and is the first time the production has been shown since its creation in 1992.
And that’s not even the start of it. The National Live Art Review (NRLA) has the monumental status of being Europe’s longest running live art festival – at 27 years! As Keidan & Brine so aptly said, “there was a time when you could count the number of platforms for emergent practitioners in Britain on one finger. It was called The National Review of Live Art”. This year’s NRLA is one of the most exciting programmes I have ever encountered, with artists in residence Black Market International and Anne Seagrave both bound to make huge waves.
Black Market International (BMI) are an internationally renowned 11-strong collective who will present an ambitious five-day-long live installation comprising solos, duos, group encounters, workshops and talks. BMI will be joined by award winning solo artist Anne Seagrave who returns to the festival with her critically acclaimed work Jamais Vu. Other highlights will include performances from Jan Kopinski on 7 February, whose live setup includes musicians from 808 State and Gorillaz. A full programme listing is provided on the NMI website.
Alongside the five days of intense programming, the NRLA also consists of Elevator / One Year On, a platform for emerging artists with 24 new works presented and the Winter School programme. This gives artists and practitioners the chance to participate in courses led by Alexander del Re and Jamie McMurry, Anne Seagrave, CREW, Julia Bardsley & Andrew Poppy and French Mottershead (whose presence at the festival last year was a phenomenon).
The Daily Screenings as part of the NRLA, is presented under three banners: Definitive Stories (ten artists conceive and execute new work in Hi Definition Video); Body-Camera-Land[scape] (more than twenty artists who use live performance as part of their practice contribute screen-based works); and Constantly in Motion (German video, 1994–2004). Programme details will be posted outside Stable 6 each day.
This year will be the second time the NRLA is held at Tramway, having moved from the more central but smaller and dingy site of the Arches. Tramway is an old building with postmodern industrial architecture and soaring ceilings, making it an ideal venue for live art. The structure opened in 1893 as the Coplawhill Tramshed, Glasgow’s main tram terminus, depot and factory. This move has already proved worthwhile. For the first time last year the NRLA was able to ease public demand by offering repeat shows alongside art exhibitions, academic panels, and installations. As Jennie Klein pointed out, the main venue Tramway 1 has proved to be an excellent setting for contemporary dance performance, eager to ease the transition from the subterranean, smoke-filled caverns of the Arches to the airy and spacious Tramway.
Tramway won the Scottish Design Awards’ prestigious Architecture Grand Prix in 2001. The venue also houses a stunning outdoor space, one of Glasgow’s must-see landmarks. The now internationally renowned Hidden Gardens, has itself won major design and regeneration awards.
From established artists to emerging new talent the radically different direction mapped out in the New Territories programme ensures the festival’s place as one of the most outstanding displays of contemporary live art in the world. But if you can’t make it, you can subscribe to the live podcast showcasing some of the artists throughout the festival.
What are you waiting for? Get your dose of live art in now. Tickets are now on sale from the Tramway Box Office on 0845 330 3501.
