GROUP STATEMENT
TOGETHER WE INVESTIGATE how participatory art practices can contribute to meaningful exchanges between residents and artists in remote and/or economically weaker areas in Europe. The aim of this project is to involve others, who have little or no access to art and culture to different European (art) practices, through workshops and the creation of joint art works. We believe that when people connect through bodily and material practices, in this case; voice, weaving, movement, writing and environmental work; people can meet, see and hear each other in new and extraordinary ways. When safer spaces are created, trust can be built beyond languages.
Locations
Partnerships
Funded by the European Union, section Adult Education 2022 - 2024. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
When the project partners visited Rosa and Nina in Amsterdam, they learned about their art practices in collective weaving, plant printing and writing. The voice found its own natural course within the week and for the first time, as singing took place during the weaving! Bureau Postjesweg, a platform which brings art and its neighbourhood together, provided a residency space for this eventful week. Prior to the week, Nina and Rosa had been working on a local sister project called Slotervaart in Transition. The two projects overlapped one evening in the week, during a dialogue session with guest speakers and neighbours.
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What: 3th workshop week held in Amsterdam at Bureau Postjesweg, April 2023
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Lead by Rosa Smits & Nina van Hartkskamp
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documentation by Olga Ganzha
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Guest lectures by De Feministische Handwerkgroep, Mathilde van Beekhuizen and Liza Prins.
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Textile art, collective weaving as a representation of emerging social networks; hand-woven rugs as “maps”; weaving as participatory performance, mending, plant dyeing, writing.
The 5th Weaving Voices workshop-week, focused on meeting the public of the city through weaving and singing at City Square. These events were programmed as part of Making A Stand public artwork by Micheal Pinsky and Studio Bark, commissioned by Leeds 2023 Year of Culture. Two weavings were made in the midst of this installation, together with passengers of the square, facilitated by the half of the WeavingVoices group. The other half of the group spend its days in Leeds City Museum, doing workshops with a group of people seeking asylum involving threads, voices, bodies and storytelling. At the end of each day, they all came together to sing and sound in the public installation on Leeds city square.
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5th workshop week held in Leeds, under the wing of 'Leeds City of Culture 2023' August
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Lead by Teresa Brayshaw & Hannah Butterfield
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Weaving and sounding together, feldenkrais movement therapy, performance techniques, and creative writing; creating safer, more accessible spaces for collaborative creation; audio documentation.
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6th workshop week, October 2023
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Lead by members of Soharoza Choir: Judit Biksz, Sarolta Eörsi, Dóra Halas, Vera Jónás, Endre Kertész
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Community choir, collective music composition, improvised musical compositions; the playfulness of singing as a pedagogical aspect.
Working in a rehab in Komló
In search of a group for Weaving Voices to collaborate with, members of Soharóza began working with a rehab facility for men in Komló, in southern Hungary. The idea was to enrich the men's yearly performance, which includes theater, with musical and vocal features. When the Weaving Voices members arrived in Budapest in autumn 2023, they went through the script and a rehearsal video together, developing musical ideas that included atmospheric vocal presence, pre composed chord structures, and verbal rhythm exercises. These musical games were later tried out with the men in Komló. Even beyond a shared language, it was surprisingly easy to build a connection, the men, perhaps due to their therapy and the rehab's strong communal rules, were remarkably open and honest. Alongside the sound workshops, textile artist Rosie Smits held a weaving frame workshop, received enthusiastically, and Nina van Hartskamp facilitated a natural dye workshop, resulting in the men wearing their "new" t shirts, stamped with leaves and nature stains, during their final performances.
Residency week
Prior to the last projectweek with all of our Weaving Voices members, I stayed in Szalatnak for a week to create a collective weave in and with the village. The population is a mix of Hungarian, Swabian and Roma heritage, and some newcomers from the Netherlands. Language was a challenge, perhaps not for explaining how to weave but for building trust with people in order for them to feel safe and participate. Though it was overwon by people's curiosity, perhaps merged with the good weather and consistency of being everyday in the center square with the loom, threads and snacks. A beautiful carpet emerged, with hidden creatures in it, that can be perceived in various ways. It was handed over to the major of the town and now hangs in the town hall.
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Residency week (only Rosa), May 2024
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7th workshop week, June 2024
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Sinum Theatre Workshop Association: Géza Pintér-Németh & Nikolett Pintér-Németh [project coordinators]
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Connecting different creative channels and modes of creation; playful voice training and theatre practices; site-specific, rural theatre spaces.
Vocal Cords – Performance Walk
The day we handed over the village carpet in Szalatnak on June 8, 2024, as part of a procession through the entire village, in which we recalled different stories and songs from both the past and the present, so that the different threads and fates would meet in a woven fabric and create a whole.
Documentary by Norbert Molvay about Weaving Voices in Szalatnak