ARCH by Kaleider performed in Bristol - part of Mayfest 2024. Part of Confluence: Part Two (2024), image courtesy MAYK. Photography by Paul Blakemore
Synopsis
Artists explore the ever-changing landscape of Bristol city centre in a residency and events programme, Confluence. Bristol-based producing organisation MAYK has been commissioned by Ginkgo Projects to devise an artistic programme that explores how Bristol’s city centre is changing for an exciting initiative, created for The Glassworks, Redcliffe’s newest student accommodation managed by Fresh. Confluence takes an innovative and proactive approach to cultural programming for new building developments.
Please note: Confluence is happening at various locations and the Glassworks development is in Redcliffe.
PART ONE
Confluence Artist Residencies
In late 2023, four exceptional artists – Asmaa Jama, Verity Standen, Travis Alabanza and Ryan Convery-Moroney – were invited to create imaginative, personal responses to the idea of a changing city. Each of the artists selected has a close personal relationship to Bristol and represent a diverse mix of artform and background.
Combining film, performance, photography and installation, the residency culminated in a weekend event, where an invited audience could delve into the personal experiences of people who call Bristol home, and leave their mark on a collective vision for our city’s future.
Composer and performer Verity Standen has a long history of making work in collaboration with MAYK, most recently with polyphony which was part of Mayfest 2022. Film-maker, photographer and visual artist Ryan Convery-Moroney was an Artist in Residence with MAYK in 2021. Asmaa Jama is a writer and visual artist who recently exhibited an acclaimed new film work at Spike Island, and writer and performer Travis Alabanza has been blazing a trail in the theatre world with shows such as Burgerz (touring) and Sounds of the Underground (Royal Court).
Each artist contributed a ‘track’ to the album. Between 1 – 3 December 2023, MAYK and the four artists shared the outcomes of the residency in an exciting public sharing event at The Glassworks in Redcliffe. Encompassing film, performance, audio work and installation, the event was free and open to all.
PART TWO
Through 2024–25, MAYK continues the exploration into the unheard and unseen in our changing city through a programme of work with artists and audiences. Confluence invites you to engage in person and online as we open up the project at key moments throughout the year.
Starting at Mayfest 2024, “where children run wild in urban forests, an arch made of ice helps us think about the systems we imagine, build, and come to rely on, and where we open up a conversation about how art can help us navigate a changing city”. Confluence: Part Two is supported by Grainger Plc.
Mayfest 2024 projects:
ARCH by Kaleider
Kaleider’s ARCH is an attempt to build a freestanding arch, made two-thirds of concrete and one-third of ice, witnessed by a vigil of human voices. Touching audiences with themes of death, renewal, and hope, ARCH points towards the extraordinary, yet flawed, systems humans create – and, inevitably, to the impact of these systems on our ecological system, and on ourselves.
Anything Moving & What Remains
An intimate guided trail in Bristol’s Nightingale Woods. Created by Kitchen Table Photo Club (KTPC), artist Esther May Campbell and friends, this trail took people on close encounters with the ‘Anything Moving’ trilogy of short films made by children and animals, as well as a wander through ‘what remains’ of a month-long Mayfest residency in these trees.
“where children run wild in urban forests, an arch made of ice helps us think about the systems we imagine, build, and come to rely on, and where we open up a conversation about how art can help us navigate a changing city”
Mayfest Talk: “It doesn’t have to last forever – public art programming in a changing city”
A fascinating discussion on public art was held on Saturday 25 May 2024. As Bristol enters a period of significant regeneration, this discussion explored the questions: “how can we collectively reimagine what the provision of public art looks like in the future? How can artists playfully disrupt and create thrilling new place-based work that is non-permanent and has deeper, richer community engagement?”
New Artists Explore Bristol’s Shifting Currents
How does our relationship with where we live change over time? And how does a city in a constant state of change shift our perception of what ‘home’ is? Over the last year and a bit, we’ve been exploring these questions and more as part of Confluence – our evolving residency programme, commissioned by Ginkgo Projects.
Confluence describes where waters meet – a place of convergence, blending, and transformation. It’s a natural metaphor for dynamic exchange, where individual streams merge to form something new, larger and more powerful. Like rivers carving their paths into the landscape, individuals shape and are shaped by the places they inhabit.
Through Confluence, we have invited Bristol-based artists to delve into their personal relationships with an evolving city. Through dance, photography, film, live performance and poetry, artists are invited to explore how their own currents intersect with the ever-shifting tides of Bristol’s identity, creating a tapestry of stories that flow together into a collective reflection on the city’s many changes.
Read more on the Confluence website.
Dhaqan Collective
Dhaqan Collective is led by Fozia Ismail and Ayan Cilmi. Their practice seeks to find ways of building imaginative futures that support Somali people here and in East Africa to resist the threats over our cultural heritage. The collective uses everyday materials, cassette tapes, food, and textiles, to create spaces of community, joy and healing that centre the full range of Somali diasporic experiences.
Based in Bristol, they are residents of Watershed’s Pervasive Media Studio and Spike Island Studio holders. Their work has been commissioned and presented by Watershed, Arnolfini, Counterpoint Arts, British Library, London School of Economics, Wellcome Collection, Serpentine Gallery, Sharjah Art Foundation, Southbank Centre, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Venice Architecture Biennial and the Weltmuseum in Vienna. In 2023 they received the WEVAA fellowship for their ongoing research into black feminist material cultures. Most recently they have been selected for Columbia University’s Digital Dozen Breakthroughs in Digital Storytelling 2024.
Howl Yuan
Howl Yuan, a Taiwanese performance maker, writer and curator. Yuan’s practices focus on transcultural identity, mobility, space/place/site, and decolonised discourse. His works span different formats but are primarily performance-based, presenting at theatres, galleries, festivals, beaches or home gardens. Yuan is also the co-host of Ming’s Strike, a monthly-update, ESEA arts podcast.
Iman Sultan West
Iman Sultan West is an artist, poet and curator based in Bristol. They are founder and director of the Shiiku Community, programming events around the city. Iman wants to explore how community can be brought together through creativity and curiosity. Their poetry uses humour and rhythm, weaving a path to understanding heritage, neurodiversity, mental health and relationships. Their silly sosage syllabic poetry is fun, lighthearted and sometimes laced with undertones of melancholic mania.
Ramelle Williams
Ramelle’s William’s dance journey began in 2008 with Angels Dance Academy, where his team claimed second place at the ISAF Worlds—a moment that solidified his love for performance. During his time there, he also discovered his passion for teaching, leading dance classes and inspiring others to move.
After relocating to London, Ramelle found himself thriving in the competitive scene, winning battles like Breaking the Bay, World of Dance, What You Got, and Go Hard or Go Home. Each victory pushed him to refine his craft and deepen his connection to the art of dance.
Ramelle’s journey then brought him to Jukebox Collective, where he expanded his skills as a performer, teacher, and choreographer. He performed in productions like Casablanca, choreographed original works, and developed innovative teaching methods to share his knowledge with the next generation of dancers.
Beyond the stage, Ramelle’s work has been featured in Virgin advertisements and the YouTube series Ritual, showcasing his versatility as a performer. He’s also graced some of the UK’s biggest stages, including Glastonbury, Boomtown, and Love Festival.
From competitive battles to transformative performances, Ramelle constantly pushing boundaries, inspiring others, and evolving as an artist. Dance isn’t just what Ramelle does – it’s who he is.
Esther May Campbell
Esther May Campbell, founder of Kitchen Table Photo Club (KTPC), is an award winning artist working with film and photography. She uses sound recording, storytelling, myth making and place-based practices to link humans more closely to our bodies, places and the earth. Alongside Chiz Williams and the members of KTPC, Esther explores the relationship between image-making, story & play. Chiz works to define, blur and re-imagine arts and social work with all kinds of enterprises and groups such as RADMIN, Cables & Cameras, Packers FC, The Cube Microplex, LISA, Qu Junktions and KIN. Esther and KTPC’s recent commissions include image making with Wye River Festival and 378,432,000,000 Seconds of Exposure photo and live art show with MAYK at St Anne’s House.
MAYK is one of the UK’s leading live performance producing organisations, with a mission to make important, unexpected, revelatory work with visionary artists that changes our experience of the world and each other. Led by Kate Yedigaroff and Matthew Austin, MAYK was established in 2011, MAYK curates and produces Mayfest – Bristol’s international festival of theatre, and are based at St Anne’s House in Brislington.
Ginkgo Projects is an independent public art and cultural producer. Creating opportunities for artists and designers to work closely with clients and communities, Ginkgo Projects build and reveal places that have a sense of narrative, distinctiveness and identity. From large to small-scale projects, the team connects people with place by taking a holistic approach to strategy development, cultural partnership building, art curation and public realm design.
