The capture of a conversation with a difference. Employing technology, which is symbolic of the Covid-19 lockdown (the webcam, laptop and phones), we live captured a short experimental film which held recorded Zoom interactions between four artists. These artists have, through multiple creative collaborations, found connection, commonality and friendship – values that resonate with communities trying to connect and support each other. Via online conversations, each artist, in their separate ‘isolated’ spaces, physically played with the notion of suspension and finding new ways to pass the time, to ‘Hang Around’, as mini ‘scores’, ‘hobbies’ or practises.
I, as lead artist utilised medical equipment for creative expression, ‘suspended’ from a hoist and sling installed in my bedroom – literally 'Hanging Around' waiting for someone, or something, to transport me out of this feeling of waiting. This was the beginning of truly experimenting with and seeing the ‘medical’ as props/tools/methods to transcend my bodies capabilities and implement this into a creative output.
The three other collaborators represented ‘suspension’ in their own unique way, as a response to my portrayed situation and the direction of the conversation, with original score, physical movement and word play.
These subjective ways of ‘Hanging Around’ connected through theoretical and playful creativity, acting as a stimulus and invitation to community members to share their own response and excerpts of ‘Hanging Around’. These excerpts were sewn together in a unique archive, illustrating how we are all in this together and can reach out, laugh and subvert our lockdown experience. The material received was so rich that it was a project in itself to fully honour variety and depth of submissions. For now, the archive holds these artistic takes on lockdown, but don’t be surprised if they re-emerge in a future project.
These subjective ways of ‘Hanging Around’ connected through theoretical and playful creativity, acting as a stimulus and invitation to community members to share their own response and excerpts of ‘Hanging Around’. These excerpts were sewn together in a unique archive, illustrating how we are all in this together and can reach out, laugh and subvert our lockdown experience. The material received was so rich that it was a project in itself to fully honour variety and depth of submissions. For now, the archive holds these artistic takes on lockdown, but don’t be surprised if they re-emerge in a future project – in fact, I think they already have
I don’t know about you, but during this lockdown I have a weird sense of… just ‘Hanging Around’… waiting or being suspended in time. It’s difficult to know how to, what to, when to… but I do know that staying colourful, creative and connected feels right.
‘Hanging Around’! Reconnect and let’s share! From the comfort of our own homes, from a safe distance, from an unprecedented stage, we will always have a chance to create together! ‘Hanging Around’ is a state of suspension we are all sharing – whether that is waiting for news, waiting for it to be safe, waiting to see each other again. So let’s share what we all have in common and some of our uniqueness too!
To generate content for this online interactive archive, the above callout invited anyone from any background or of any ability to be part of our community archive, documenting/subverting lockdown 2020. As a creative team, we engaged over social media platforms with multiple individuals to encourage them to send in their own take on lockdown, whether this be a clip, poem, song, dance, or just showing what they do to pass the time and make them feel better during these difficult times.
To diversify and develop these engagements, we hosted 2 open and relaxed Zoom chats, one of which was with a group of learning-disabled artists, applying theatre devising techniques to facilitate an open table expression of how lockdown was affecting each of them.