@ Fk Alexander Buzzcut, Dramaturgy Cut Yp

Clan Dramaturgy Mulgrew/Orton @ Buzzcut

Can you tell me a little bit about the work that you are bringing to Buzzcut?
The Clan is a collaborative improvised workshop from 8 artists from 2 families. We grew up together and span 3 generations.  Improvisation and spontaneity is integral to our lives and practice. We will be leading a procession at the end of our workshop, which will be devised and constructed in an ad-hoc extravangza workshop proceeding it.

What is it about Buzzcut that attracted you to perform as part of it?
We live in disparate locations, and we were attracted by the idea of coming together, for one day only, in a festival location as a site of this improvised work. Buzzcut as a performance festival is also an interesting place to site our work, which spans sculpture, music and performance. Also, this work is completely devised on the day, and as such, carries a risk for the festival, and Buzzcut have supported this idea by accepting us into the festival, which is very attractive in itself!

Do you see your work within any tradition - and are there any artists (performance and beyond) whom you regard as a peer or an influence?
For this project we are trying to work within traditions which may be more community based- the local dramatic society play, ceilidhs, parties and social gatherings. We are trying to bring that side of our creative practice into our more formal creative practice by displaying the process of how you try to work together

How 'typical' is this work compared to other pieces that you have made? Did the process follow a familiar or new pattern?
As 8 artists we make very different works in our own practices, and this project is about bringing disparate skills and aesthetics together as well as about taking a risk in working with close friends and family who we may not always work with. I personally (Morven Mulgrew) have never made any work with my mum, which is following a new pattern already, and not always in the way Im pulling!

Buzzcut is concerned with the idea of 'community'. Does community have a special meaning for you, and what relationship do you feel your work has within wider communities?
This project is actually about the community you form around yourself, and how artwork can collide with your personal community. The Clan is a response to having a special connection with people with a long personal history, and how this can translate through art and performance. The processional aspect of The Clan is about opening that community feeling up to the wider audience and trying to start a conversation about how the audience can become part of a work and what community that can create.

What are you hoping that the audience will experience?
We want to open up the collaborative creative workshop process to be viewed and examined to the audience- a kind of living museum - we are interested in what an audience could take from this, and how we can stage the workshop in order to frame it for the audience. In the procession aspect of the performance we hope that the audience will be able to be part of the performance, and be able to watch and listen to something visually and aurally chaotic and anarchic.

Are there any strategies which you used to direct the audience experience towards this?
As mentioned above, we are considering carefully how we visually stage our workshop- in order to that the audience can put it into a context. For the procession, we  have chosen the construct of a parade or procession as it is an event understood by an audience so that we don't need to use a lot of language or direction to be able to entice the audience into particpation or even to watch and move with the performance.

What is it about performance that enticed you - and kept you making it?
We describe ourselves as sculptors, painters, musicians and performers. Our performance practice comes in many forms, however it is the immediacy and live nature of a performance that means we can create something together, quickly, with little resource. The danger and risk in exposing our weaknesses by working this way is very exciting to us.

TRANScribe Martyn James Garside.

Can you tell me a little bit about the work that you are bringing to Buzzcut?

TRANScribe.
A two part mixed media interactive performance installation piece created and performed by Martyn James Garside.

Part one is performance: An exploration of identity stimulated by self, him, her, you and I created by movement, song, text and objects.

Part two invites the viewers of the scene  into the space to leave behind their own forensic notes culminating in accounts to be shared and remembered in your own words based on your own experience upon reflection, transforming you as a Spectator to express and explain the then and now of such events witnessed.

What did you see? What will you see? What will you remember? What will you forget? How did you feel? How will you feel?
As we move forward over time what will you leave behind as evidence.


What is it about Buzzcut that attracted you to perform as part of it?
I was approached by some people who after viewing my first and last installation  i had performed in Edinburgh that I should apply. As i am somewhat new to Scotland and a newer artist (as dance is my background) I had to check it out the next day online. 

I was immediately attracted by the openness of the application, the progressiveness of past artists who have taken part, the inclusiveness of audience and the scale that allows 60 artists over 5 days to come together to work, share and create... I found this inspiring and exciting.

Do you see your work within any tradition - and are there any artists (performance and beyond) whom you regard as a peer or an influence?
My work is Multi-disciplinary and somewhat hard to pin down. I have been influenced by so many people and places over the years especially during the 7 years i spent in San Francisco getting the chance to see much queer performance art. 

For this piece i suppose i have been inspired by close friends such as Jean Franko, Rumi Missabu (from the cockettes) as well as drag artists of past such as Jose Sarria who used drag to stand up for gay rights, they challenge perception and identity and in turn push me to see and show my whole authentic self... plus a sprinkle of glitter, drama, nudity perhaps to entice and find some humour and sound in what i want to say.

How 'typical' is this work compared to other pieces that you have made? Did the process follow a familiar or new pattern?
I am new to this game although I have always created in my home and act out when alone. I can walk around town and plan 10 works in my head at one time. No i do not follow a pattern but i love using art as a means to say something powerful, reveal something intimate about self, find something funny in the shit and hopefully connect people.

Buzzcut is concerned with the idea of 'community'. Does community have a special meaning for you, and what relationship do you feel your work has within wider communities?
My installation involves audience participation and i want to do this so the viewers can share, speak and explain how they feet, what they see and what they think happened as a way to open up idea and discussion after the performance is over. To challenge the viewers participation reflects the  challenges of communities to open up and discuss rather then the much easier version of to judge.

What are you hoping that the audience will experience?
An intimate viewing experience and portrayal of a man, woman, boy told through song, script, dance, installation.

Are there any strategies which you used to direct the audience experience towards this?
Yes. My performance is made in 5 parts, each part will be visible by 10 people at a time so in total 50 people will see bits and pieces of one durational performance encouraging them by the end to share and story tell amongst each other what they witnessed in order to know more.

What is it about performance that enticed you - and kept you making it?
I love performance. I love seeing somebody else in performance and feeling like i have just witnessed a side of them and feel grateful and inspired by this intimacy and in return i like to challenge myself to reveal who i am and how i think and feel, this can be scary and i totally enjoy that.

Are there any questions you feel that I ought to ask to understand how dramaturgy works for you?
Dramaturgy is such an open word, I still do not understand it myself.

Dramaturgy gets Out: Rachael Young @ Buzzcut

Can you tell me a little bit about the work that you are bringing to Buzzcut?

‘OUT’ is collaboration between theatre maker and writer; Rachael Young and choreographer and dance artist; Dwayne Antony.  We are two artists of colour from Jamaican heritage.  We decided to collaborate to create a space to recall and examine our own experiences of the stigmas associated to queerness and gender conformity within the black community.

“Males and females are put into boxes of expectation when we are born. As we grow we start to realize the damages that those expectations cause to our spiritual and emotional understanding of ourselves and life”.
[Willow Smith]

The piece examines and challenges ideas that we have been indoctrinated with throughout our Caribbean upbringings, exploring the sense of shame that has felt ever present.  It comments on the tightrope we have to tread and unpacks the multitude of  pressures and repressions surrounding the experience of upholding a family’s social standing.


How 'typical' is this work compared to other pieces that you have made? Did the process follow a familiar or new pattern?

‘OUT’ is the first time that Dwayne and myself have worked together. It has provided a real opportunity for us to share our practices with each other, whilst creating a new piece which feels like it comes from both of us.  The process has followed a different pattern for me, in that much of the work I’ve been making recently has been text driven and in this piece I don’t speak at all, so the process has been a much more about developing a physical and visual dramaturgy.

It is vital to us both as makers to be constantly conscious of the authenticity of what it is we were striving to say.

Buzzcut is concerned with the idea of 'community'. Does community have a special meaning for you, and what relationship do you feel your work has within wider communities?

The idea community is a double edged sword, it can feel like an affectionate hug and a mighty bitch slap, often at the same time; loving and understanding with a huge sense of camaraderie and kinship. However in order to have that everlasting feeling one must, toe the line, act right and remember not to bring shame to the family door.

Whilst making the piece we discussed a topic very similar, we called it the “Black Mantra”. A mantra of long-lasting words and phrases we both recall hearing growing up. I guess the question we have to ask ourselves is, how much of the black mantra was/is good for shaping us into good well-mannered people? And how that mantra we grew up hearing so much, stopped us feeling free enough to know truly who we are and most importantly become the versions of ourselves that we feel most connected to.


What are you hoping that the audience will experience?

I hope the audience come with an open heart and mind and experience the notion of questioning and recalling, which we bring to the space. You will see two stories running simultaneously in the space that exploring how we reappropriate our own culture so that its fits who we are.

Rachael Young is a writer, theatre maker, artist and performer. Her practice includes solo contemporary theatre, interactive installations and socially engaged participatory projects. Her work is playful, experimental and often autobiographical. It seeks to represent voices that are often unheard in the arts and engage with audiences to explore new collective voices and participatory forms of expression. Concerned with the way we navigate the world as women and specifically black women, her work subtly questions societal norms, aiming to empower audiences to embrace and celebrate who they are.


In 2013 Rachael became a ‘Breakthrough Artist’ at Curve, Leicester and then in 2014 she received an annual BBC Performing Arts Fellowship, hosted by mac birmingham. These opportunities, coupled with support from Arts Council England and Ovalhouse have enabled Rachael to create I, Myself & Me.

Dwayne-Antony Simms is a dance artist and

choreographer. His artistic development has taken him through Europe to the United States and Middle East. In 2013 Dwayne travelled to Israel to attend an experimental dance residency to develop a new project called 'Roll on the L.LAW'. 

AJIMA Dramaturgy: Marc Gabriel @ Buzzcut

The performance AJIMA stages a character that

oscillates between real and fake, private and public, quotidien and theatrical. Throughout the piece, the ambiguity of our wavering identities and roles, our assumptions on others in social interactions become a life exhibition, are cast a spotlight on, and are processed in a collective ritual. The self-referential character AJIMA is alternating and shifting between revealing and hiding, lying and telling the truth, looking and being looked at.


Can you tell me a little bit about the work that you are bringing to Buzzcut?

AJIMA is a solo for Maija Karhunen that I devolped with her three years ago. We studied choreography together in Berlin. I proposed her to stage a freakshow with her as the freak – and she said yes. 

I’m lucky she didn’t call the police to arrest me instead... Maija was born with glass-bone disease and usually moves around in a wheelchair. We realised very early that my projection of a freak-show on her wouldn’t lead to anything interesting to us. Instead, we started collecting social projections that people cast on each other all the time. And in the end – we did make a flamboyant freak-show! But one that empowers the performer rather than the director or the spectator.

What is it about Buzzcut that attracted you to perform as part of it?

The philosophy of sharing and exchange is really what makes this festival special and relevant to us. Often you perform in a place and there is no time and space to engage with the surroundings because schedules and budgets are tight or just because no one has thought of exchange to be crucial to art making. I think it is essential to sustainable art making. 

I’m not so much interested in selling my work as much as possible – I’m interested in engaging with the audience, with other art makers and in contributing to the discourse of future models of how to be together on (and with) planet Earth. I see it as a long term process. And I feel that Buzzcut has evolved from a similar spirit.


Buzzcut is concerned with the idea of 'community'. Does community have a special meaning for you, and what relationship do you feel your work has within wider communities?

Communities are vital parts of society. We are losing more and more the sense of and understanding for what it means to be part of a community and how to commit. Not so much because of the much scolded digitalisation of social interaction, but because of growing anxieties and fear that neo-liberal capitalism is fuelling. 

We are pushed to fear the unknown, the ominous other (I am speaking from a Western European perspective), although excluding those that are different has always proven to be a short sighted error of reason. Women, queers, “the disabled”, blacks, Muslims, the exotified, the environment, many more and any overlapping groups of these, they all had enough of being denied a voice, being dis-empowered, marginalised, alienated, suffocated. 

Communities have risen to cut through to the surface and strike back to lift the oppression. My work is concerned with offering unconventional angles on things, centring the other, while targeting all kinds of alienation of past and present day Western patriarchal society. AJIMA was the first of a series of works that playfully unfolds the mechanism of social alienation.

What are you hoping that the audience will experience?

I’m hoping for the audience to catch themselves thinking in patterns that they didn’t know they were pursuing. And not punishing themselves for it, but becoming aware for who they are and what they do. 

Realising if that is what they want to be. I want to instigate people to reflect on themselves and to be optimistic about what is to come.

No Dramaturgy III: Laura Rosemary Murphy, Terry O’Connor, Moe Shoji and Bridie Moore @ Buzzcut

Laura Rosemary Murphy, Terry O’Connor, Moe Shoji and Bridie Moore
Each performer has answered 3 questions each...
Can you tell me a little bit about the work that you are bringing to Buzzcut?
No Performance III is a text-based triptych featuring, and bringing together, three women who have a collection of both contrasting and overlapping life experiences. Much of the work is grounded in the personal experiences of the performers, thus considering the many variations of the ‘woman’ within society, and how we ourselves and our experiences are shaped by language.

What is it about Buzzcut that attracted you to perform as part of it?
Because it is an amazing, artist-led, smorgasbord of live art and performance, which embraces experimentation, queer-ness, inclusivity and difference. We want to both contribute to and be in dialogue with this!

Do you see your work within any tradition - and are there any artists (performance and beyond) whom you regard as a peer or an influence?
We inevitably draw upon the work of Forced Entertainment (Terry O’Connor is directing the work), but are also very much influenced by performance artists, who utilize a text-movement synergy, such as: Liz Aggiss, Bobby Baker, Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion.

Are there any strategies which you used to direct the audience experience towards this?
We made our responses, meditation and questions intentionally open. It is an invitation for the audience to explore their own responses. It will be a work-in-progress when it is shown at BUZZCUT, but perhaps it is indeed a right state for this work anyway - to be left open for possibility of further continuation and development.


What is it about performance that enticed you - and kept you making it?
It is its playfulness, its power to question and its potential to create a 'present' moment. While we are all researchers and practitioners, our relationships with performance and individual practices may be very different - personally, I am always fascinated by what performance is capable of and that is what keeps me engaged with performance.


Are there any questions you feel that I ought to ask to understand how dramaturgy works for you?
What does a word 'No' mean to you? When is it difficult to say 'No', and why? These are some of the first questions we asked ourselves as a starting point, which themselves tell something about this work.

How 'typical' is this work compared to other pieces that you have made? Did the process follow a familiar or new pattern?
This is the first time that we have made work together.What has been enjoyable has been to bring the individual responses to the provocation 'no' and to witness the way that Terry has helped us to weave them into a interlacing whole.  The three figures in the piece stage an intersection of femininity with sexuality, race and age. 

 The response of each woman on stage to the word 'no' carries a mark of their specific identity position yet Terry has directed us in a way that foregrounds our individual responses and at the same time shows a sense of playful companionship and competitiveness between us. I think this allows the sense of commonality between the three positions to be recognised.

Buzzcut is concerned with the idea of 'community'. Does community have a special meaning for you, and what relationship do you feel your work has within wider communities?
I have always found my deepest sense of community while making performance of one sort or another.  For me it's quazi religious.  Theatre making is a reason to exist and a way of  communicating with a community, both through the process of making and through the act of performing to, or with, an audience.

What are you hoping that the audience will experience?
The statements of all three women in this piece call for a corresponding recognition in the audience. We hope that the audience will recognise their own response in that of the performer that they will meditate therefore on the word 'no' and ask why the comments of the performers lead from that provocation.

'No' is a politically provocative word of course and we have all felt like saying and have said the word many, many times in our lives.  But what are we compelled to say 'no' to? And why? These are the questions that we would like the audience to think about.

Intangible Dramaturgy: Amy Rosa @ Buzzcut

We have ignored a large part of our beings
for too many centuries. We have ignored the soul; our own souls, and the soul of every living thing around us.
​
We live in an age where we aspire for the unattainable, and so we feel lost, because we never feel completion.  As a race, we place value in the rational, the proven, the 'known', and we are encouraged to dismiss instinct, the unknown, the intangible. The felt.
​
Amy Rosa is a Glasgow based live artist who was raised amidst fields and foxes. Her arts practice looks into how our pasts echo our presents and futures, our relationship to the ancient, and how we still haven’t learnt.

​​Amy Rosa has produced work for Buzzcut Glasgow, Dark Behaviour with 85A, Centro de Arte Mutuo Barcelona, MPA Berlin, The Arches Glasgow, GDIY and has performed at the Barbican, BYOB, the Traverse, the Citizen’s theatre and for the Merchant City Festival, working in collaboration with, amongst others; Untitled Projects, Houston and Sharpe, Nic Green, Janice Parker and Stephen Skrynka

Can you tell me a little bit about the work that you are bringing to Buzzcut?
Gallanach is a piece that investigates female pain through live installation and sculpture. Last year I was diagnosed with two incurable lifelong conditions, and the past few months I have been trying to work out how to live in a completely different body. 

Alongside this, my practice has had to be modified to allow for these differences, in as much as I have had to forgo my usual territory of long, one to one, intimate sharings and develop my skills in varying formats. I will be working with materials I have a long artistic history with, branches, twine, water, and I am exploring new materials to weave into the piece, woad from my native Norfolk, and electric wire fencing.



What is it about Buzzcut that attracted you to perform as part of it?
I've known Rosana and Nick for a few years now, and apart from being wonderful artists in their own right, they have a particular knack for creating a flow to a festival of live art, making an overall experience for the audience that is extraordinarily organic and moving. Also the lovely vegan lunch is always a good incentive!



Do you see your work within any tradition - and are there any artists (performance and beyond) whom you regard as a peer or an influence?
There are so many, it's hard to pick! I've always been drawn towards artists like Francesca Woodman and Deborah Turbeville, their compositions in photography have an unearthly quality that really appeals to me. I am a big fan of Carl Jung, and a lot of my work has been imbued with philosophies we share. I love Anne Bean, particularly the collaboration PAVES and specifically the action of her and Kurdish artist Poshya Kakl plaiting their hair together, very slowly. 

I like work that doesn't need to be loud, that finds the strength and subtlety of vulnerability and quietude. Andy Goldsworthy's sculptures encourage me to find the patterns in sculpture that nature offers itself. Sarah-Jane Grimshaw's work has always been a huge inspiration too, and many many authors, too many to count! I find the work of Kosovan artist Alketa Xhafa-Mripa and her installation 'Thinking of You', and the work of artist Jaime Black with The Red Dress Project to be particularly moving, and powerfully silent.



How 'typical' is this work compared to other pieces that you have made? Did the process follow a familiar or new pattern?
This piece follows on from my interests in how our environment affects our physical, emotional and spiritual health, but with more focus on live installation. It is very different from the last few years of my work, which were predominantly duration based one on one pieces, in that it will be performed in front of an actual audience, which is slightly daunting!



Buzzcut is concerned with the idea of 'community'. Does community have a special meaning for you, and what relationship do you feel your work has within wider communities?
I've always been interested in the notion of the 'outsider'. Community is an incredibly important thing to have for any society, but I feel there are enough artists who explore this subject with more finesse. I am drawn to this sense of being on the peripheries, as I myself have always been. It's not a negative, although it can be hard. 

Even in circles where there are people on the same wavelength, I've always felt removed somehow, and instead of worrying about it or trying to 'fit in', I have decided to embrace the 'other'-ness that has followed me. With my work, I hope to call out to the other peripherals, to try and imbue them with the sense of joy there can be in flying solo, the freedom of not 'fitting in'. 


What are you hoping that the audience will experience?
With this piece, I hope that the audience will leave with a better understanding of chronic illness and the disintegration of the old ways to pave way for a new version of life. 


Are there any strategies which you used to direct the audience experience towards this?
Nope, I'll just do my thing and see what people think and feel!


What is it about performance that enticed you - and kept you making it?
That's an excellent question, and something I've been wondering about for a couple of years. I started acting age 12, and acted in 4 or 5 plays a year through most of my teenage life. I wanted to be an actor for so long, then in my early 20s I realised it wasn't making me happy, it was making me anxious. The whole world of acting is a sharp and treacherous one, and I was getting bored of making someone else's work, and I was missing my sidelined practices like sculpture and painting and writing; so I delved into the world of performance art. 

After my degree, I began to wonder if I actually wanted to perform any more. I had been settling into doing installation and one to one pieces, and that felt really good; I have always preferred the intimacy of small performance. Since my diagnosis I have had to think long and hard about what avenue my work would have to go down. And maybe performing won't be there. But that's okay. Other things will be.


Are there any questions you feel that I ought to ask to understand how dramaturgy works for you?
Nothing I can think of, you've been pretty thorough!




Gallanach
(Gaelic adj. full of young tree)

In late spring 2015 I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. It’s not a condition that many people know about. It’s not a condition that is easily explained. It involves chronic pain and chronic fatigue, related to a central sensitisation of my nervous system and a weakening of my immune system. It is incurable. In early winter I was also told that my immune system had attacked and killed my thyroid gland, so I had been living for months with pretty much no metabolism. I am 28 and trying to work out how to navigate in a totally different body. And it's really really scary.

The loneliness of being ill is a very potent thing. When you can't walk far, your world suddenly becomes very small. People forget about you when you're not right in front of them. With chronic illness, there's a silence that settles on you. You can't talk about it because it makes people uncomfortable. Friends don't know what to say or do and end up saying, and doing, nothing. 


This piece will be a physical investigation of my experiences as a woman with a chronic, invisible yet lifelong condition, and an investigation of how female pain is viewed differently and often with scepticism. It will also resonate with ideas of carrying too much weight, physical weight, invisible weight, anxious weight, and how expending so much energy on extraneous subjects and putting unnecessary pressure on oneself can sometimes have very real, very physical effects. 

Fallopian Dramaturgy: Fallope and the Tubes @ Buzzcut

(Conversation in the Bunkhouse, Kerrera during Fallope & the Tubes residency weekend March 5th 2016 making new songs for Buzzcut Festival.)

“Welcome to the surgery. We have got a few questions to browse....Well you’ve got the questions. Sorry."

First question. CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT THE WORK YOU ARE BRINGING TO BUZZCUT? 

(Silence) 

What are we doing? We are just doing what we always do. Same

old. What are we doing always just doing? We are just getting on stage and performing some songs that we wrote as a group, some old, some new. 

Is that enough? 

Well we could say things like we’ve written some of it here in Kerrera. Which is true. Are we not also creating songs considering the audience that we are going to have and the space that we are going to be in and the type of energy that we want to produce? We are going to be in a space near the bar. 

We do like bars. We will be making a lot of noise. But you do need to always let people know that there is an escape route. You can leave. You have to keep reminding people throughout the performance that they can leave whenever they want. That will be implicit in the set up.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT BUZZCUT THAT ATTRACTED YOU TO PERFORM AS PART OF IT? 
(Laughter) The vibes. It’s handy. Their open approach to working with different kinds of people. The financial support to make new work. 

We’ve heard really good things about it. And it just started as friends doing something together which we respect. It’s in an area of Glasgow that doesn’t often host this kind of thing. Yes, that feels quite liberating in a way as well doesn’t it. The space is really nice.

It’s great that it’s all in one place. It was refreshing to apply for something to people who were other performers, it didn’t feel like we had to bow down to a funder or curator. That comes across as well in their approach to how they ask different artists to submit.


It’s a far more realistic and equal way of working and probably makes for a better festival experience for everyone involved.

HOW TYPICAL IS THIS WORK COMPARED TO OTHER WORK YOU HAVE MADE? DID THE PROCESS FOLLOW A FAMILIAR OR NEW PATTERN? 
Very typical and familiar. We are approaching it in the same way as would when we make anything together. We don’t really know what we are doing. Let’s just go away and we will do something and hang out and see what happens and then we’ll write something and be like omg this song’s amazing. 

Organic, innit. 

Ruby do you want me to check on the rice? Does anyone else want a top up? I feel like I’m totally charging through the wine. Me too. Let’s do it, let’s all do it. I might have to swim to shore tomorrow and get another box.

BUZZCUT IS CONCERNED WITH THE

IDEA OF 'COMMUNITY'. DOES COMMUNITY HAVE A SPECIAL MEANING FOR YOU, AND WHAT RELATIONSHIP DO YOU FEEL YOUR WORK HAS WITHIN WIDER COMMUNITIES?
What community? Community as an idea. I was thinking of us as a community. A collective. I definitely wouldn’t be having the same experience if I was on my own. It’d be totally dire. I’d be crying into my pyrex dish. I’d be sleeping right through this. I think that’s mostly part of it. 

That’s mostly it. Spending time together, forming a communal space, getting away from home. Trekking to new zones. We have to go abroad every time and share the same space and survive together. 
And food, obviously. 

Are those sausages alright Catherine? Yeh, I’ve turned the oven off. (Laughter) Anything else about communities? Friendships. The art community. The music community, festivals. Have we got girl power in yet? Girl power....community? Then there’s people that take us in, support us. Pals, people we have met through the band, projects like the Bothy Project, Supernormal Festival, Soakin Records. 

There’s lots of new friends we’ve made, like those folk we met when we went down to Bristol. People are a big part of it. It’s fun. Anyone can do this. Come in with us! 

Do you guys want bowls or plates?

WHAT ARE YOU HOPING THE AUDIENCE WILL EXPERIENCE? 
Walker. The big O. The ultimate orgasm. Mutual climax.

WHAT STRATEGIES WILL YOU USE? 
Well the music? Lyrics. Props. Blinding colour. Visuals. Fireballs. Unbelievably horrifically made visuals and props. Very loud sounds. Sweets? We’ll throw sweets. Ohh look at you and your cutlery tree. Get that on the stage!

WHAT IS IT ABOUT PERFORMANCE THAT ENTICED YOU - AND KEPT YOU MAKING IT? 
It’s free. It’s cheap. It’s free and cheap. It’s a laugh. You can do it with others. I can’t speak so I might as well dance. 

There's four sausages. I’ll nominate someone to have mine.

Fallopé and The Tubes is Sarah Messenger, Ruby Pester, Nadia Rossi, Rachel Walker and Catherine Weir. The band are a group of Glasgow based artists who work collaboratively to devise live performances as Fallopé and The Tubes.

Each live show features their lovingly hand crafted yet somewhat tasteless visuals, shameless zero-budget costumes, sculpture and visual props.

The group was established in January 2014 at Insriach Bothy, Aviemore and have developed their practice during numerous residency experiences across Scotland. 

By living and working together ‘off grid’ the group have developed experimental techniques to create a collective energy. Fallopé and The Tubes draw influence from a wide range of fringe and mainstream musical genres, as well as sexuality, elements of social satire and self promotion and leftist political ideologies.

Dramaturgy is Here: Helen Walker and Harun Morrison @ Buzzcut 2016

Witness (2009 - ongoing)

STUK, Leuven, Battersea Arts Centre, London, The Basement, Brighton, Cafe Oto, London & Tate Modern, London

Witness is part of an ongoing series of works exploring re-enactment, memory in relation to digital video and group dynamics. It can be seen as a choreographic version of ‘Broken Telephones’.

The work usually involves us devising a site-responsive set of movements for up to five members of the public, this is then video-recorded. Five members of the public are then invited to watch the recording. They have to re-enact the video live. 

The re-enactment is recorded – a new group is invited to watch and re-enact and so on. Usually up to 7 re-enactments are made per day. At the end of a day, the videos are shown back to back to participants and other audience.

In 2013, we created a trilogy of Witness films in collaboration with STUK, Leuven.

Below is a version we created for Tate Modern in the Turbine Hall for four participants. The gestures in the 'starter film' were derived from the observation of movements of visitors to the gallery.


Can you tell me a little bit about the work that you are bringing to Buzzcut?

Witness is part of an on-going series of works exploring re-enactment and memory in relation to video and group dynamics. It can be thought of as a choreographic version of the game variously called ‘broken telephones’ or ‘whispers’. The work usually involves us identifying or devising a site-responsive set of movements with four people, which is then video-recorded. 

Four members of the public are then invited to watch the recording. They are challenged to re-enact the video live. Their re-enactment is recorded - a new group of four is invited to watch this new version, re-enact it and so on. Up to seven re-enactments are made per day. In the evening, the videos are shown back-to-back in a ‘chain’ to participants and a wider audience. The videos are later distributed online or shown in the context of exhibitions or festivals.

What is it about Buzzcut that attracted you to perform as part of it?

We were attracted by its artist-led and artist-centric spirit. We’ve visited Buzzcut in the past and enjoyed the atmosphere of the Pearce Institute too.

Do you see your work within any tradition – and are there any artists (performance and beyond) whom you regard as a peer or an influence?

Augusto Boal, Games For Actors and Non-Actors (London: Routledge, 1992), Hans Haacke, Chickens Hatching (1969), Ten Turtles Set Free (1970), Bowery Seeds (1970), Peter Handke, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other (first performed 1992), Pawel Althamer, Realtime Movie (2008), Siobhan Davies, various works, Trisha Brown, various works, Peter Campus, various works, Dan Graham, various works.

How ‘typical’ is this work compared to other pieces that you have made? Did the process follow a familiar or new pattern?

For Buzzcut we are creating a new series of Witness videos. However, the first public iteration was devised at Tate Modern, London in 2009. It marked a new direction in our work, in that although games were always integral to the development of our work, Witness marked a moment games became THE work. 

A series of works have subsequently emerged from these ideas, including Re-Shoot (2009), STAND HERE UNTIL YOU FIND SOMEONE TO REPLACE YOU (2010), Avoiding the Camera (2014) and Location Scouts (2015).

Buzzcut is concerned with the idea of 'community'. Does community have a special meaning for you, and what relationship do you feel your work has within wider communities?

It’s important to us that iterations of Witness produced in public space add an additional layer of narrative to a site, rather than negate what happens there. At the same time, they are spatially disruptive, but it’s a disruption you are invited to participate in – and the outcomes are freely shared. The work can be seen as a microcosm of how inherited knowledge can circulate in a closed community. The work is also demonstrative of how bonds can be made through the shared experience of participation in the same process. In this sense, an ephemeral micro-community emerges around the production of the work itself.

What are you hoping that the audience will experience?
We hope to remind participants of the pleasurable aspects of close-observation, negotiation and co-operation. Participants are invited to focus on how they remember what they experience through their bodies. We hope they will enjoy seeing the impact their participation has on subsequent re-enactments.

Are there any strategies which you used to direct the audience experience towards this?

The game is explained orally through a set of rules. These rules also contain pointers as to what to focus on. However, it’s an open field as to what you might take away from the experience.

What is it about performance that enticed you - and kept you making it?
Our work is not necessarily resolved through performance. At the same time, it’s integral to this chain of re-enactments. The work emerges through the act of ‘mis-remembering’ and the impossibly of exactitude when it comes to re-enactment of another’s movement.

Are there any questions you feel that I ought to ask to understand how dramaturgy works for you?
In the case of this project we are closer to game designers than dramatists.

They Are Here is a collaborative practice steered by Helen Walker and Harun Morrison. We are currently based in Birmingham and London.

We have worked together as They Are Here since 2006, often extending our collaboration to include those from all walks of life.

Our work can be read as a series of context specific games. The entry, invitation or participation can be as significant as the game's conditions and structure. Through these games we seek to create ephemeral systems and temporary, micro-communities that offer an alternate means of engaging with a situation, history or ideology.

Each They Are Here project has its own unique collaborative structure and hierarchies that emerge through the contributions of various invitees. These contributions may lie in the development of a work or its delivery. The potential of various models of collaboration is an on-going and foundational concern of They Are Here's practice. We continuously explore group dynamics, divisions of authorship and the effects of temporary engagements with practioneers of other disciplines.

We work as gatherers, editors, assemblers and facilitators to generate work.

They Are Here work across media and types of site particularly civic spaces. Institutions we have developed or presented work include: Arnolfini, Battersea Arts Centre, Camden Arts Centre, CCA Glasgow, Chisenhale Gallery, Grand Union, LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre), National Theatre Studio, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, South London Gallery, STUK (Leuven, Belgium), VIVID and Whitechapel Gallery.

Bound Dramaturgy: Lucy Hutson @ Buzzcut 2015

bound has three screens showing my growing

concept of gender and my changing perspective on my own gender expression spanning 5 years. these three films are a mix of interview style candid accounts of my life as a woman who looks like a boy and is confused by my breasts. 

As well as actions born out of the things I feels but don’t know how to explain. I am seen making a fire in full feminine evening ware. Planting tampons, dildos and turkey basters whilst hidden behind a beard and trying to create nature making my own tree with twigs and gaffer tape.

Can you tell me a little bit about the work that you are bringing to Buzzcut?
This is a show about the slippery nature of identities, the ones you give yourself, the ones forced onto you and the ones that were once strong and now you are just clinging on to. More specifically it’s a show about breasts, gender and using urinals. But mostly it is about baring all.

it consists of my being silent drawing the audience whilst 3 films play explaining how i feel about identity and gender in word and image 

What is it about Buzzcut that attracted you to perform as part of it?
i apply to everything


Do you see your work within any tradition - and are there any artists (performance and beyond) whom you regard as a peer or an influence?
i call it live art
i regard everyone else making live art a peer and about a third of them as an influence


How 'typical' is this work compared to other pieces that you have made? Did the process follow a familiar or new pattern?i work in several different ways i would stay its my style but a bit different maybe not as funny



Buzzcut is concerned with the idea of 'community'. Does community have a special meaning for you, and what relationship do you feel your work has within wider communities?i value organisations considering community and how to enable it i think its important


What are you hoping that the audience will

experience?something they can relate to or new perspectives that is interesting


Are there any strategies which you used to direct the audience experience towards this?i just talk about things



What is it about performance that enticed you - and kept you making it?
i wanted to go to drama school to be a Shakespearian actor but i read the prospectus wrong and ended up on a performance art course then disided i like it better i keep doing it because i don't have many skills to do anything else and it keeps me busy


Are there any questions you feel that I ought to ask to understand how dramaturgy works for you?
no

Drone Dance Dramaturgy: Bob Moyler @ Buzzcut

THE PERFORMANCE ADVENTURES OF BOB MOYLER & FRIENDS

Performances that splice myth, science fiction, folk, grotesque and the ridiculous. Bridging physical and fictional worlds and blurring the space between the extra-ordinary and the everyday.

Can you tell me a little bit about the work that you are bringing to Buzzcut?
Drone Dance is a cyborg performance featuring a non-humanoid robot vacuum cleaner and some humanoid performers. It’s essentially a dance class.

What is it about Buzzcut that attracted you to perform as part of it?
The buzz. I like the energy that surrounds the festival.

Do you see your work within any tradition - and are there any artists (performance and beyond) whom you regard as a peer or an influence?
Morris Dancing and folk performance have influenced my work. I danced the sun up during a season with the Mersey Morris Men. Charles Freger’s photos are pretty cool. I’m quite in to the bells. 

How 'typical' is this work compared to other pieces that you have made? Did the process follow a familiar or new pattern?
Collaborating with technology is a new thing for me. I believe this is the first time iRobot Roomba 533 has created collaborative performance with humanoids. Although, who knows?

Buzzcut is concerned with the idea of 'community'. Does community have a special meaning for you, and what relationship do you feel your work has within wider communities?
I would hope that my work resonates a sense of inclusiveness and belonging to and with wider communities. I create work influenced by ideas of folk tradition and communal performance. Done Dance is about welcoming non-humanoid technology into these communities in a way, and questioning technology’s place among us.

What are you hoping that the audience will experience?
An enjoyably challenging encounter with a hi-tech domestic appliance

Are there any strategies which you used to direct the audience experience towards this?
Coercion 

What is it about performance that enticed you - and kept you making it?
I don’t remember what enticed me, the magic probably. I keep on making it because that’s just what I do.

Are there any questions you feel that I ought to ask to understand how dramaturgy works for you?
What’s dramaturgy?

Rough Dramaturgy: Gavin Krastin @ Buzzcut 2016

Gavin Krastin is an award winning South African performance artist, theatre-maker, choreographer and designer-scenographer with an interest in the body’s representation, limitation and operation in alternative, layered spaces. His work is inspired by his immediate South African environment and the history embedded in its shifting socio-political climate. 

Apart from operating within the conventional theatre context, Krastin advocates the migration towards unconventional spaces where unknown risk factors are imminent. The social underpinnings and philosophies of space intrigue him and inspire a questioning of operational systems, thresholds, proximities and the politics of boundary-crossings and transgressions (and the myth making thereof) in his work. 

His approach offers opportunity for intimate engagement, immersive journeys and unique participatory involvement. 


Can you tell me a little bit about the work that you are bringing to Buzzcut?
The performance, “Rough Musick”, explores spectacle-driven shaming and torture rituals of pre-enlightenment Britain and draws parallels of such brutality to Britain’s later colonial era where such modes of violence were transfused into other cultures and territories. 

photo:CatPennels

The work and its content are approached through a post-colonial and post-apartheid South African perspective, acknowledging the atrocities of colonisation and how it continues to impact the lives of South Africans today. Rough Musick is perhaps a provocation of ‘the other’ in the face of Imperialistic hegemony, back then and now; it attempts to return the colonial ethnographic eye back onto the colonial headquarters and appropriate rituals and practices from a culture that is typically used to doing all of the appropriating, in a cheeky and self-embarrassing way.


What is it about Buzzcut that attracted you to perform as part of it?
It was definitely the type of work, both in form and content, and how Buzzcut curates and connects the artists and artworks in a way that results in an energetic hub of performance and live art experiences, conversations and research that attracted me to the festival. 

The team and mission is fantastic in how they aim to really support and spotlight a mode of creativity that often finds itself on the periphery and even dismissed.


Do you see your work within any tradition - and are there any artists (performance and beyond) whom you regard as a peer or an influence?
I suppose when it comes to contemporary performance it is very difficult to speak about ‘traditions of’, as ideas of lineage, influence and precursors become a bit more frenetic and concurrent, especially in this hyper-mediated and hyper-connected digital age. 

photo by SuzyBernstein

Certainly my practice is situated within contemporary performance, post-dramatic theatre, live and performance art, which is historically situated in American and European spaces and discourses, but I am largely inspired by my immediate South African environment and the history, anguish and hope embedded in its shifting socio-political climate.



How 'typical' is this work compared to other pieces that you have made? Did the process follow a familiar or new pattern?
No, I don’t think this work followed a similar process to my other works. Of course I did draw from known choreographic and theatre-making strategies and tools, but that is not to say that the process was the same. I think it is very much to do with the concept and the spaces, histories and experiences that the concept takes you into that directs how the process will unfold, and as these spaces, concepts and entry points are all different in each work the process would be different too.

Gavin Krastin: Rough Musick
The practice of ‘Rough Music’ originated in the small villages of medieval England as a means for the public to disgrace and humiliate petty criminals, sexual deviants and ‘others’. Strangely  Carnivalesque, this public shaming involved the creation of a brutal cacophony of sound and the public would direct this barrage of sound at the chosen individual like a weapon. Fundamentally the public were the ‘Rough Music’.

Inspired by these early practices, Gavin Krastin has created a contemporary re-engaging with these dark rituals of exile. A visual and visceral experience unfolds through the brazen clashing of images and activities sourced from Gaelic folklore, Welsh ‘sin eating’ ceremonies, ‘bogey man’ mythologies and psycho-sexual fetish role-playing games. Spectators of this ritual are invited to participate in its unfolding and to become implicit in the dark demonstrations and fantasies.

Created by Gavin Krastin
Performed by Gavin Krastin and Alan Parker
Original sound by Shaun Acker

The Inferno Dramaturgique: Lechedevirgen Trimegisto and Sorshamn Lara @ Buzzcut 2016

Inferno Varieté 
Lechedevirgen Trimegisto / Sorshamn Lara (México) 
International Performance Art Festival Buzzcut 2016 

Can you tell me a little bit about the work that you are bringing to Buzzcut?
We are bringing our performance project Inferno Varieté. This projects comes from the importance of creating  alternative and radical ways to fight against the system of oppression, violence and homophobia in Mexico and around the world, from the perspective of radical artivism and body art, the relation between violence and masculinity as a place of power relations, where the bodies and beings that don't fit in with the hegemonic image of “man” live a living hell, while those who enjoy the privileges of masculinity are conditioned by the bonds of virility, bravery, strength and the fear of being linked to the feminine, all in an environment of homophobia that subdues everyone equally. 

The concept of Inferno Varieté comes out as a critic compilation of popular Mexican culture, religious iconography, mass media stereotypes of Latino masculinity, gay ambient sceneries and aesthetics, as a hybrid space where the violence that follows traditional masculinity appears. 

This project is integrated by myself, as a performance artist, and the multimedia artist Sorshamn Lara, in which is combined video, sound, performance art and theatrical imaginary background. 

What is it about Buzzcut that attracted you to perform as part of it?
I think Buzzcut represents in a perfect way the type of performance and live art festival who cares about its artists, and also creates links between them, the audience and the organizers, making possible a strong sense of community. I also believe it's an international showcase for ones work as a live artist in the contemporary scene. 

Do you see your work within any tradition - and are there any artists (performance and beyond) whom you regard as a peer or an influence?
I see my work within the tradition of Mexican magic and spiritualism, among the theatrical background of the cabaret and variety shows. 

My influences are very different and eclectic, I take inspiration from Mexican horror cinema from 60's to 90's, writers and poets as Pedro Lemebel, Yosimar Reyes or Gloria Anzaldúa, icons of drag and trash culture as The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, Leigh Bowery or Pandemonia, artists like Ron Athey, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Mago Melchor or even holy figures like Sarita Colonia, Niño Compadrito or the lonely souls of the purgatory, but the figure that I find the most influential in my work is Fidencio Constantino "El Niño Fidencio" thaumaturgist and curandero from the north of Mexico who became famous between 1920-1930 by creating new and unusual methods of healing. 

He fully embodies what I understand as an "artist": someone who makes possible the miracle of transformation and healing, helping to create a better world. 

How 'typical' is this work compared to other pieces that you have made? Did the process follow a familiar or new pattern?
I've been working on this project about 2 years. Inferno Varieté is a complex artistic project that constantly keeps shifting and expanding, there are some actions that are held together inside the project among adding new strategies in the process of execution of the performance. Although it follows a familiar pattern, it always appears new things, making the work evolving. 

Buzzcut is concerned with the idea of 'community'. Does community have a special meaning for you, and what relationship do you feel your work has within wider communities?
I believe performance art has to create communities. Making strong bonds and connections, opens the radical possibility for change in a micro/macro collective, local/global groups, it depends on the trade-offs between the artist and the audience where the value of live art and performance art resides. 

It's something that goes deeper than it seems, it is rooted in the symbolic space of the ritual interchange for the construction of cultural, social and political structures and transactions, where the body becomes the gravity center. I believe in my work as an ephemeral space where community fears and hopes are embodied and exposed. 

What are you hoping that the audience will experience?
For me, a Mexican artist who has built most of his work from Latin American culture, it's a challenge capable of transporting my performance art work to other latitudes with other characteristics and qualities than my country, like, in this case, Scotland. I'm really hoping to carry out a connection between my work and the audience, and to deliver with more than words a powerful message.  

Are there any strategies which you used to direct the audience experience towards this?
I believe in the power of the body as a political and poetic space, where emotions and actions take place to bring metaphors and voices alive. 

My strategies are pondered by exposing the vulnerability of the body and the human conditions that are neglected by the margins and extreme situations, to generate a bond of empathy between the public and the issues that my work describes. I trust in the aptness of the audience and people to understand the pain and suffering of the others and to take a moment for social reflection. 

What is it about performance that enticed you - and kept you making it?
Performance Art is a space I found where I can create without any restrains, where I feel totally free to pull out new and strange ideas without the incumbency of any academic issue or discipline exigency. I truly believe that artists need to have all the possible liberty in our own creative process. 

Performance Art erases the lines between life and art, it’s something that gives me life and keeps me searching for new ways to transform my world. 

Are there any questions you feel that I ought to ask to understand how dramaturgy works for you?
I think I have answered most of the important and interesting questions, I’d just like to add what I consider art is very similar to what others consider "magic", been said that, I believe my work is located somewhere between dramaturgy and the spiritual practices, with a sharp teeth approaching in gender/sexuality themes.

Thank you so much for this interview. Lechedevirgen.

Gash Dramaturgy: Kayleigh O'Keefe @ Buzzcut

Gash Land exists in the collective imagination of its inhabitants as an external manifestation of the Glorious Leader’s internal life; a collaborative safe space created in response to being slut-shamed at a sexual health clinic.

In new performance ‘#GASHLAND’ the Glorious Leader is joined by Minister of Showing Off (Benjamin Gordon Wilson) and Penetration Officer (Hayley Hare) to give a snapshot of our cuntry’s distinct culture.

RULE #1 OF GASHLAND: ETERNAL ADORATION FOR THE GLORIOUS LEADER.


Can you tell me a little bit about the work that you are bringing to Buzzcut?
I am the Glorious Leader of Gash Land. Gash Land exists in the collective imagination of its inhabitants as an external manifestation of my internal life; a collaborative safe space created in response to being slut-shamed at a sexual health clinic.

Me and two Ministers are cumming to Buzzcut to show the outside world how to have a rayt gudd tyme through the medium of an explosive gashlightening performance timed to my biological clock. I’m going to use my shamanic skillz and powerful womb to feed a fistful of gash culture to the gaping bummorl of the outside world.

How 'typical' is this work compared to other

pieces that you have made? Did the process follow a familiar or new pattern?
Though this work incorporates other Gash Land performances I am working in different ways to adapt to the logistical challenges of performing far from home. Working with less props and scenery means that I am using performance elements in different ways. I tend towards embracing new challenges in working in diverse contexts and am excited to experiment and play with this work at Buzzcut. This is also the first time I have drawn different parts of Gash Land culture together into one piece in such a concentrated way which is really satisfying!

Buzzcut is concerned with the idea of 'community'. Does community have a special meaning for you, and what relationship do you feel your work has within wider communities?
There is a strong sense of community in Gash Land. The cuntry exists in the collective imagination of its inhabitants, with interactions feeding back in to the work. A lot of this activity happens in a social way both online and offline. Citizens report that they feel empowered and safe to be themselves in Gash Land and this is an important part of any community for me.

I find it interesting that people do feel like Gash Land is a safe haven, sometimes, as they’re also at the mercy of the tempestuous weather of my moods and emotions. They’re only allowed to be citizens if they follow the rules which include giving me eternal adoration and nobody being mean to me ever again. 

Gash Land is actually MY safe space and not that habitable for other people, I think. I sometimes wonder if me being vulnerable and raw is what makes the work empowering for them. I’m their Glorious Leader but I’ll cry when a dikk edd breaks my heart or doesn’t wash my dildors after they’ve borrowed them.

What are you hoping that the audience will experience?
I want the audience to learn about Gash Land. To engage with the concept of my imaginary cuntry. To follow the rules. To feel aroused. To feel repulsed. To feel like filthy bastedds, hot fat bitches and chubby-chasers. To feel the connection in contributing to the work via their interactions in this dialogue. To feel empowered. To experience art that leads by example and aims to make the world better by doing better things. I want them to apply for citizenship.

Are there any strategies which you used to direct the audience experience towards this?
Shock and awe.

Kayleigh O’Keefe: Artist Statement

I am Kayleigh O’Keefe: World Famous Artiste, Glorious Leader of Gash Land, Flabzilla and fertility symbol of the modern world.

I use performance and video to create imaginative new spaces for the exploration and assertion of identity and humanity.

I use humour and the absurd to connect with diverse audiences.

I revel in humanity.

I use my fat body to provoke, express and challenge.

I am interested in the cumulative effect of my open nudity and raw physicality.

I deliberately blur the line between my art and my life.

“In a world where art is more a commodity than a site of public engagement and critique, O’Keefe ‘holds our feet to the fire’ (or wherever she’d like them to be) with brilliant humor” – Krissy Mahan, dykeumentary.com, 2015

Biography

Kayleigh O’Keefe is a contemporary artist working in performance, video and film. She was born in Sheffield (1986), received her Bachelor of  Fine Arts Degree from Falmouth College of Arts (2008) and currently lives in London.


She performs, produces and directs live art at festivals, shows and exhibitions. She collaborates and works with other artists, filmmakers and non-professionals. Her films have been screened internationally at arts, queer, niche and mainstream film festivals.