Performing the Outside World brings together short films by UK-based artists and performers that explore themes of access to nature. Through simple, shared actions, the films evoke different sensory experiences - of touch and tactility, movement through landscape, shifting colours and textures. They question how elemental phenomena may be experienced when disability and limited infrastructure restrict access, and harness experimental, DIY solutions to negotiate these barriers. The films share a sense of wonder and fascination with the natural world, and joy in the freedom to explore, touch, and interpret these environments.
All films include subtitles for d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing
The title of this film programme is borrowed with gratitude from Abi Palmer’s article ‘A flat-packed forest’ (wellcome collection, 18 October 2021)
Forest Floor builds upon previous self-filmed documentation (as seen in Slow Progress). Shot in Abernethy Forest in the Cairngorms, Forest Floor considers different bodies and physical access challenges in a rural location. Close friends Julie and Robbie sit quietly together on the ground - a simple idea requiring a novel approach.
“...a short film of astonishing beauty that redefines “adventure”... first they solve the technical challenge that besets all good adventures — how to get there — and then, they dance." - Keme Nzerem, Financial Times, May 2020.
Julie Cleves (London) and Robbie Synge's (Highlands) practice and friendship investigates the possibilities of sharing time in different spaces together, over-coming disability access issues with proactive and novel DIY design solutions. Founded twelve years ago in dance studio-based research around the possibilities of moving together on the floor, they soon became bored of the studio confines and took their practice into the public realm. Their adventurous spirit and highly visible performed actions seek to enable new personal shared experiences and to feed into overlapping discourses around access, design, cooperation and embodied actions and solutions.
- Year2019
- Runtime4'45
- LanguageEnglish
- CountryUnited Kingdom
- DirectorJulie Cleves & Robbie Synge
Performing the Outside World brings together short films by UK-based artists and performers that explore themes of access to nature. Through simple, shared actions, the films evoke different sensory experiences - of touch and tactility, movement through landscape, shifting colours and textures. They question how elemental phenomena may be experienced when disability and limited infrastructure restrict access, and harness experimental, DIY solutions to negotiate these barriers. The films share a sense of wonder and fascination with the natural world, and joy in the freedom to explore, touch, and interpret these environments.
All films include subtitles for d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing
The title of this film programme is borrowed with gratitude from Abi Palmer’s article ‘A flat-packed forest’ (wellcome collection, 18 October 2021)
Forest Floor builds upon previous self-filmed documentation (as seen in Slow Progress). Shot in Abernethy Forest in the Cairngorms, Forest Floor considers different bodies and physical access challenges in a rural location. Close friends Julie and Robbie sit quietly together on the ground - a simple idea requiring a novel approach.
“...a short film of astonishing beauty that redefines “adventure”... first they solve the technical challenge that besets all good adventures — how to get there — and then, they dance." - Keme Nzerem, Financial Times, May 2020.
Julie Cleves (London) and Robbie Synge's (Highlands) practice and friendship investigates the possibilities of sharing time in different spaces together, over-coming disability access issues with proactive and novel DIY design solutions. Founded twelve years ago in dance studio-based research around the possibilities of moving together on the floor, they soon became bored of the studio confines and took their practice into the public realm. Their adventurous spirit and highly visible performed actions seek to enable new personal shared experiences and to feed into overlapping discourses around access, design, cooperation and embodied actions and solutions.
- Year2019
- Runtime4'45
- LanguageEnglish
- CountryUnited Kingdom
- DirectorJulie Cleves & Robbie Synge
